The only suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will be released from prison in a matter of weeks.
Christian Brueckner will be released on September 17 after serving a sentence for an unrelated rape conviction, the lead prosecutor investigating Maddie’s case confirmed.
Hans Christian Wolters said the prime suspect had to leave prison, despite believing the 48-year-old is still dangerous.
Brueckner has denied being involved in Madeleine’s disappearance in Praia da Luz, Portugal, and has not been charged in relation to it.
He is known to have been in the Praia da Luz area between 2000 and 2017, and is in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.
Then aged three, Maddie vanished while on holiday with her family in the Algarve resort after her parents went out to dinner and left her sleeping in a room with her toddler twin siblings.
The little girl’s disappearance sent shock waves around the world and sparked a massive investigation that continues to this day.
Wolters, who has led the German efforts to solve Madeleine’s case, told the BBC there is ‘no one else’ they suspect other than Brueckner.
He added: ‘We have evidence which speaks against [Brueckner], which indicates that he is responsible for the disappearance and the death of Madeleine.
‘We haven’t found anything in the last five years that exonerates [him]. We found evidence that strengthens our case.
‘But in our view, it’s not strong enough to make a guilty verdict likely, and that’s why so far we couldn’t charge him or apply for an arrest warrant.’
The suspect told a journalist earlier this year that if he does get out of jail, he will leave Germany for a country with no extradition treaty and lie low as he is so well known.
He also said he most looking forward to eating steak with a beer when he walks free.
A new search for evidence was carried out in July this year at the request of German police as they raced against time to charge Brückner.
Investigators searched areas between Praia da Luz and a house near the holiday resort where he used to live, but nothing was found.
Timeline of events since Madeleine’s disappearance
- May 3, 2007: Kate and Gerry McCann leave their children asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, while they dine with friends. They check on their children three times throughout the night, and, at 10 pm, they find her missing
- May 14, 2007: Police take property developer Robert Murat in for questioning and make him a formal suspect – this is later withdrawn.
- August 11, 2007: 100 days after her disappearance, detectives acknowledge that she could be dead.
- September 7, 2007: Maddie’s parents become formal suspects in their daughter’s disappearance.
- September 9, 2007: The McCanns return to England with their two-year-old twins.
- July 21, 2008: Portuguese authorities shelve the investigation and remove the McCanns and Murat as suspects.
- May 12, 2011: Kate McCann publishes a book about her daughter’s disappearance on her eighth birthday
- April 25, 2012: Scotland Yard detectives say they believe Madeleine could still be alive and release a picture of how she may look as a nine-year-old. They ask Portuguese police to reopen the case, but they say they have found no new information.
- July 4, 2013: Scotland Yard confirms it has launched its own investigation and says it has identified 38 people of interest, including 12 Britons.
- October 24, 2013: Portuguese police decide to reopen the case
- January 29, 2014: British detectives fly out to Portugal
- June 3, 2024: Sniffer dogs and specialist teams are used to search an area of scrubland close to where Madeleine went missing.
- December 12, 2024: Detectives begin questioning 11 people who it is thought may have information on the case.
- September 16, 2014: The Government states that the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance has so far cost £10 million
- October 28, 2014: Scotland Yard cuts the number of officers working on the inquiry from 29 to four.
- April 30, 2017: The McCanns mark 10 years since her disappearance with a BBC interview.
- May 3, 2019: Local media reports say Portuguese detectives are investigating a foreign paedophile as a suspect in the abduction of Madeleine.
- June 3, 2020: Police reveal that a 43-year-old German prisoner, later named as Christian Brueckner, has been identified as a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.
- April 21, 2022: Christian Brueckner is made a formal suspect by Portuguese authorities.
- October 11, 2022: Brueckner is charged with three counts of rape and two charges of child sex abuse, unrelated to Madeleine’s disappearance.
- May 3, 2023: 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, 2023: An area near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, is sealed off as police prepare to start searching on May 23.
- May 23, 2023: Searches begin with police divers in the water and officers with sniffer dogs and rakes seen on the banks.
- June 23, 2023: A man named Helge B claimed to the German newspaper Bild that Brueckner almost confessed to killing Maddie, allegedly telling him ‘she didn’t scream’ when the pair talked about the case at a music festival
- July 11, 2023: The German prosecutor involved with the case warns not to ‘expect too much’ from the search.
- February 16, 2024: Brueckner’s trial starts over three counts of alleged rape and sexual abuse of two children not connected to the Madeleine investigation
- October 8, 2024: He is acquitted of all the allegations due to ‘insufficient’ evidence. An appeal over the acquittal is launched, which is still ongoing
- March 27, 2025: A 60-year-old woman is charged with stalking the McCann family
- May 3, 2025: Maddie’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, mark the 18th anniversary of her disappearance with a heartbreaking message
- June 3, 2025: a new search near Brueckner’s home and trenches around Praia da Luz begins
- September 17, 2025: This is the date Brueckner could be released from prison if no further charges are brought
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