Christian Brueckner, the main suspect in the Madeleine McCann investigation, says he was within 150 yards of the family’s holiday apartment on the night the child disappeared.
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, the convicted rapist and paedophile, 49, claimed Portuguese police stopped his van three times later that evening as he attempted to make what he described as a “quick getaway”. He said officers allowed him to continue without searching the vehicle.
Brueckner, a German national who has consistently denied any role in Madeleine’s disappearance, had previously refused to disclose where he was when the three-year-old vanished from her family’s apartment at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.
Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, were dining with friends at a restaurant about 100 yards from the apartment at the time.
Brueckner told the newspaper: “I was on the beach, not far from Maddie’s hotel, selling drugs. I’d been in Spain and smuggled the weed into Portugal.” He said he was approximately 150 yards from the apartment.
“I was even stopped by police three times on the street [in Praia da Luz] while they were looking for Maddie,” he claimed.
“Luckily, they didn’t find the drugs. My van was full of them.”
He said he was trying to leave as police established checkpoints across the area. “I was making a quick getaway; there were flashing blue lights and checkpoints everywhere. I just thought, ‘Get me out of here’.” Explaining why he had not previously spoken about his location, Brueckner added: “I’ve kept quiet because the police want to frame me for the Maddie thing.”
Convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner claims he was about 150 yards from the McCann family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine disappeared in 2007
Brueckner, who denies involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance, says he was attempting to leave the area after police checkpoints were introduced
Pictured: The ground-floor apartment in Praia da Luz from which Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007
A source close to the McCann family said the claim raised troubling questions. “If what he [Brueckner] says is true, it obviously begs the question of what might have been if the Portuguese police had not let him slip through their fingers,” the source said.
Portuguese police faced criticism at the time for their response to Madeleine’s disappearance, with accusations that the possibility of an abduction was not treated with sufficient urgency.
German prosecutors identified Brueckner as the leading suspect in the case in 2020.
They said they possessed “concrete evidence” linking him to the investigation, although they acknowledged it was not sufficient to obtain a conviction.
Brueckner was frequently in Portugal in 2007, and a mobile phone registered in his name was traced near the McCann family’s accommodation on the evening Madeleine vanished.
MORE STORY: Gavin Newsom Spotted Mingling With A-List Celebrities at Malibu Hot Spot
Metropolitan Police detectives are seeking to bring Brueckner to Britain to face trial over Madeleine’s alleged abduction and murder. He has two rape convictions and has also been convicted of offences including theft, drug trafficking, assault and sexual abuse of children.
He was released from a German prison in September last year after serving six years for raping a 72-year-old American tourist. Following his release, Brueckner was placed under round-the-clock surveillance.
Separately, authorities are investigating him over an alleged sexual assault involving a nine-year-old girl in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, in 2015.
It remains unclear whether Brueckner’s account of the night Madeleine disappeared will accelerate efforts to extradite him to the UK.
Gerry and Kate McCann read a statement to the press after Maddie went missing
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Brueckner said he had been on the beach selling cannabis and claimed police stopped his van three times that evening
Yesterday, the Met said a dedicated team was continuing to examine the case and remained in close working discussion with police colleagues in Germany and Portugal.
A spokesman added: ‘We will continue to pursue any viable lines of enquiry.’ In 2020, German prosecutor Christian Wolters said Brueckner’s Portuguese phone received a call from another Portuguese number at 7.32pm on the evening that Madeleine disappeared.
He said the call, which lasted 30 minutes, was significant. It was later discovered that it was from Diogo Silva, of Portugal.
But in his interview with the MoS, Brueckner stonewalled questions about this call, saying he could not remember whether he had ever used the mobile number released by German police. He also denied knowing Silva.
On the morning after Madeleine disappeared, Brueckner re-registered the Jaguar XJR-6 car he owned in Germany to a friend’s name.
As for a VW camper van, which he sometimes used to live in, Brueckner sold it to a car dealer, identified as Peter W, in Regensburg, Bavaria, for £5,000 in 2015.
Brueckner insisted to the MoS: ‘I have nothing to do with the little girl’s disappearance ‘I would be happy if Maddie turned up tomorrow, then everyone would immediately understand that everything against me is and was staged.
‘But that probably won’t happen, so I remain the prime suspect.’
ALSO READ: Prince Harry and Meghan’s New Life Shows Signs of Unraveling