The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann could flee to Cuba if he is not charged soon, German investigators fear.
Christian Brueckner, 47, was cleared at a court in Brunswick of three charges of aggravated rape and two of sexual abuse of children.
He is already serving a seven-year prison term in Germany for raping an American woman in 2005 in the part of Portugal’s Algarve region where three-year-old Madeleine went missing two years later.
But unless a new warrant is served before that term expires in September 2025, he will be a free man.
Hans Christian Wolters, one of the German prosecutors on the case, said after the verdict that it ‘plays no role’ in the Maddie case and the ‘investigation continues’.
Brueckner has not been charged in the McCann case, in which he is under investigation on suspicion of murder.
Investigators now fear what might happen if no charge is forthcoming before the end of his current sentence and he walks free.
German newspaper Bild reports that they are ‘troubled’ by the prospect that Brueckner ‘could flee to a country like Cambodia, the Philippines or Cuba after his release’.
They are among those that do not have an extradition agreement with Germany.
The newspaper also highlights a potential weakness in the Madeleine case.
During Brueckner’s most recent trial, the court dismissed the evidence of prosecution witness Helge B, with the judge branding him ‘unreliable’ and ‘a liar’.
Helge B is also one of the key witnesses in the Maddie case, having told police Brueckner had confessed to him in 2008.
2007
– May 3: Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, leave their children asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in southern Portugal while they dine with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.
Nothing is amiss when Mr McCann checks on the youngsters just after 9pm, but when his wife goes back at about 10pm she finds Madeleine missing.
Jane Tanner, one of the friends dining with the McCanns, reports having seen a man carrying a child earlier that night.
– May 14: Detectives take Anglo-Portuguese property developer Robert Murat in for questioning and make him an ‘arguido’, or formal suspect, but this is later withdrawn.
– August 11: Exactly 100 days after Madeleine disappeared, investigating officers publicly acknowledge for the first time that she could be dead.
– September 7: During questioning of Mr and Mrs McCann, detectives make them both ‘arguidos’ in their daughter’s disappearance.
– September 9: The McCanns fly back to England with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.
2008
– July 21: The Portuguese authorities shelve their investigation and lift the ‘arguido’ status of the McCanns and Mr Murat.
2011
– May 12: Mrs McCann publishes a book about her daughter’s disappearance, on Madeleine’s eighth birthday.
Scotland Yard launches a review of the case after a request from home secretary Theresa May, supported by prime minister David Cameron.
2012
– April 25: Scotland Yard detectives say they believe Madeleine could still be alive, release an age-progression picture of how she might look as a nine-year-old, and call on the Portuguese authorities to reopen the case, but Portuguese police say they have found no new material.
2013
– July 4: Scotland Yard confirms it has launched its own investigation, Operation Grange, into Madeleine’s disappearance two years into a review of the case. It has ‘genuinely new’ lines of inquiry and has identified 38 people of interest, including 12 Britons.
– October 24: Portuguese police confirm that a review of their original investigation has uncovered new lines of inquiry, and they reopen the case.
2014
– January 29: British detectives fly to Portugal amid claims they are planning to make arrests.
– June 3: Sniffer dogs and specialist teams are used to search an area of scrubland close to where Madeleine went missing.
– December 12: Detectives begin questioning 11 people who it is thought may have information on the case.
2015
– September 16: The Government discloses that the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine has cost more than £10 million.
– October 28: Scotland Yard cuts the number of officers working on the inquiry from 29 to four.
2017
– April 30: The McCanns prepare to mark 10 years since their daughter’s disappearance with a BBC interview in which they vow to do ‘whatever it takes for as long as it takes’ to find her.
2019
– May 3: Local media reports say Portuguese detectives are investigating a foreign paedophile as a suspect in the abduction of Madeleine.
2020
– June 3: Police reveal a 43-year-old German prisoner, later named as Christian Brueckner, has been identified as a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.
– June 4: Scotland Yard’s Operation Grange, which had received £12.3 million in funding up to April 2020, is still a missing person inquiry as detectives have no ‘definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead’.
2021
– May 4: Kate and Gerry McCann post a statement on the official Find Madeleine campaign website saying they still cling to the hope of seeing their daughter again as they prepare to mark her 18th birthday on May 12.
2022
– April 21: Brueckner is made an ‘arguido’, a formal suspect, by Portuguese authorities.
– May 3: The McCann family say it is ‘essential’ they learn the truth of what happened to their daughter on the 15th anniversary of her disappearance.
– October 11: Brueckner, now 45, is charged with three counts of rape and two charges of child sex abuse, unrelated to Madeleine’s disappearance.
2023
– May 3: Kate and Gerry McCann mark the 16th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance by saying she is ‘still very much missed’ and that they ‘await a breakthrough’.
– May 22: An area near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, is sealed off as police prepare to start searching.
– May 23: Searches begin with police divers in the water, and teams including officers with sniffer dogs and rakes and metal poles are seen working on the banks. Media and onlookers are kept a mile away from the main search area and a no-fly zone is imposed over the water.
2024
– February 16: Brueckner goes on trial for three counts of rape and two charges of child sex abuse at a court in Brunswick, Germany.
– October 8: Brueckner is acquitted of all charges.
Friedrich Fulscher, defending Brueckner, told the court that ‘there was never a sufficient suspicion’ against his client.
Mr Fulscher also suggested Brueckner might not have been charged if he had not been a suspect in the McCann case.
He spent many years in Portugal, including in the resort of Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance in May 2007.
Brueckner has denied any involvement in her disappearance.
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