The main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has bragged he has information about the ‘scandal of the century’ to a shop worker.
Christian Brueckner, 49, was released from prison last week for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same part of Portugal where the McCann family were on holiday in 2007.
He has been linked to Madeleine’s disappearance since 2020 but has refused to speak to police about the case.
But within a week of his release – spending his first hours of freedom with a McDonald’s – Brueckner has become very talkative with an employee at a phone store.
He spent the equivalent of about £90 on a Xiaomi Redmi Android phone and sim cards, spending about an hour-and-a-half in the shop as he tried to get the new phone and a WhatsApp account set up.
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The lengthy exchange was captured on the shop’s CCTV camera, and Brueckner suggested his information could ‘end’ the ‘scandal of the century’.
Shop manager Farouk Salah-Brahmin told The Sun: ‘Brueckner told me he had some information.
‘I don’t know if it’s the McCann case but he said he had evidence that could bring the scandal of the century to an end.
‘He said he would end all the accusations against him. He said he can bring his own solution. He said something about USB sticks.
‘The way he said it he must have been talking about the Madeleine McCann case. What else could he be talking about?’
At one point during the lengthy conversation, Brueckner lifted his ankle to show off a police monitoring tag, laughing as he said: ‘Look, I’m under control.’
Farouk said he thought it was clear he was the first ‘real person’ the rapist had spoken to at any length since his release from prison.
He added: ‘I had no idea he was in my town before he walked in. I thought, “What does he want here in this area?” He was just carrying a backpack and a load of supermarket shopping bags.
‘I admit I was afraid. It’s a dangerous guy, and I had to be careful and keep a distance. He was directly in front of me. No space, no barrier. There he was, Christian Brueckner.
‘He claimed everything that happened to him was an injustice. He said he had nothing to do with the things he has been convicted of and accused of.
‘I said to him, “They found your DNA in one victim’s bed”. And he told me, “Yes, but also 14 other DNA”. He said it wasn’t him.
‘He said all the claims against him had been invented.’
Brueckner also claimed during the lengthy conversation that he believes his life is at risk, due to ‘special information’ he has about ‘some people’.
Farouk recalled: ‘Brueckner told me there are some people out there who “want to make him cold”.
‘He told me, “I won’t do long here – maybe someone will murder me”. He made it sound like there were people from his past.
‘It sounded to me like he was part of something wider. Something he clearly had knowledge of. Some network or something maybe.
‘I thought maybe he knows other people who were involved – but it’s clear he knows far more than he had been telling the police.
‘That struck me as weird – that he said he had knowledge of this but hadn’t told police. I don’t understand why he would do that.’
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