MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian Brueckner is using data protection laws to try and stop birthmark pictures that tie him to a horror rape being shown in court.
The monster, 47, ‘had the mark removed’ from his left thigh to avoid being identified for the knifepoint attack on Irish holiday rep Hazel Behan, who will give evidence against him this week.
Brueckner is refusing to let a health file that contains pictures of him with the mark be opened, claiming it breached strict German data laws.
It raises the prospect prosecutors will not be able to show the images in court – despite the importance in backing Hazel’s claims he was the attacker who whipped and filmed her.
A source said: “We have in Germany a data-protection law that says your personal data can’t be published or otherwise used if you have not given your consent.
“This is applicable to your health data files and Christian Brueckner’s defence team have therefore claimed he had never given his consent.
“The problem for him is the body scan was not a private act but made in connection with his previous sexual crimes and ordered by a judge.”
Full-body pictures of Brueckner are understood to have been taken while he was in custody for previous offences – before he decided to get the mark removed.
Brueckner is said to have been left with just a scar between his thigh and hip, which his defence team will claim is a coincidence.
His defence team have already asked a number of witnesses if they recalled the birthmark.
Prosecutors are said to be working on a legal solution, which will allow them to use the pictures as evidence in the current trial.
Hazel is set to give evidence at the trial in Braunschweig, Germany, in May, in person – although a request has been made for the harrowed victim to give evidence via videolink.
The court has heard Brueckner filmed as he raped and whipped her – leaving her in fear he would behead her, in Praia da Rocha, in June 2004.
During the attack the masked sicko allegedly asked her: “You are afraid of me aren’t you?”
When she lied and said “no” he whipped the helpless holiday rep then chillingly demanded: “Are you afraid of me now?”
Brueckner was previously said to have spent £7,500 having his jaw reset and four “rabbit” teeth straightened four months after Maddie vanished in 2007.
Soon after, a police sketch showed a man with buck teeth seen near the McCanns’ holiday flat.
Madeleine, three, disappeared from an apartment in Praia da Luz on Portugal’s Algarve coast while on holiday with parents Kate and Gerry, now both 55, of Rothley, Leics.
German investigators believe Brueckner abducted and murdered her – although no charges have been filed against him.
Brueckner is on trial for a string of rapes and indecent exposure charges, uncovered during the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance. He denies the claims. Trial continues.
MADELEINE McCann vanished on May 3, 2007 – and cops believe Brueckner could have been behind her disappearance.
Almost 17 years on, no one has been charged in connection. These are the key dates:
May 3, 2007 – Kate McCann finds Madeleine missing at 10pm
May 14, 2007 – Property developer Robert Murat is named an “arguido” or formal suspect
August 31, 2007 – The McCanns launch libel action against Tal e Qual – a newspaper that claimed the couple killed Madeleine
September 7, 2007 – Kate and Gerry McCann are made “arguidos”
September 9, 2007– Madeleine’s parents return to England with their two-year-old twins
October 2, 2007– Lead detective Goncalo Amaral is taken off the case after criticising British police in a newspaper interview
July 21, 2009 – Portuguese police lift the “arguido” status of both Robert Murat and the McCanns
May 12, 2011 – On Madeleine’s eighth birthday, Scotland Yard launches a review into the case
April 25, 2012 – Scotland Yard officers say they believe Madeleine McCann is still alive
July 4, 2013 – Two years into a review of the case, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance
October 24, 2013– Portuguese police reopen their case after new lines of inquiry are found
November 27, 2013 – Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for British and Portuguese police to work together
October 28, 2015 – Scotland Yard reduces the number of officers working on Madeleine’s disappearance
March 11, 2017 – The Home Office grants Operation Grange an extra £85,000 to continue from April until September
September 28, 2017 – British police are granted £154,000 to keep the probe going until March 2018
November 2017 – Cops moved the search to Bulgaria
May 2018 – Another round of funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
September 2018 – An extra six months of funding is requested from the Home Office
November 2018 – More funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
November 2018 – UK police re-examine a theory Madeleine left the apartment to look for her parents
June 2019 – Another round of funding, believed to be £300,000 of government cash is granted
June 2019 – Portuguese police are probing a “new clue and suspect” after talks with British officers
June 2020 – New prime suspect revealed as a German paedo Christian Brueckner
April 2022 – Brueckner formally made an “arguido”
May 2023 – Police search remote Algarve reservoir Brueckner called his “little paradise”
