Christian Brueckner: To be or not to be

Less we forget..

He's a monster. But I'm sure he didn't do it... and convicting the wrong man would leave real killer at large: Investigator who has followed every twist and turn of Madeleine McCann case believes Christian Brueckner is not responsible for her disappearance

   A Madeline McCann case investigator thinks police are after the wrong man
   Last month jailed paedophile Christian Brueckner was named as a chief suspect
   Mark Williams-Thomas says his evidence blows police's claims to 'smithereens'

By Mark Williams-Thomas for the Daily Mail

The case against the man suspected of abducting and killing Madeleine McCann rests on three key pieces of evidence. Convicted paedophile Christian Brueckner was named last month by Portuguese police as the official chief suspect or arguido in her presumed murder.

The question is: can we trust the evidence? Or is the entire indictment based on lies and wishful thinking?

In a major private investigation, hunting down witnesses and conducting interviews across Europe for more than six months, I have uncovered significant fresh information that doesn't merely call the prosecution case into question.

It blows their claims to smithereens.

Not only are their facts inaccurate and misleading, but they are ignoring potentially the most important evidence of all – a strong alibi for Christian Brueckner, 44, supplied by a woman who has no reason to lie.

Prosecutors in Germany, where Brueckner is in prison, assert he boasted of snatching, abusing and killing Madeleine in a bar-room confession to an associate.

They point to the fact that Brueckner was living in Praia da Luz, close to the Algarve holiday complex in Portugal where Madeleine and her family were staying in May 2007.

And, in the most sensational and damning claim of all, they say telecoms mast data shows Brueckner was outside the McCanns' apartment on his mobile phone for 30 minutes on the evening the little girl vanished.

Though Madeleine's body has never been found and no forensic evidence exists to link Brueckner definitively to her abduction, those three strands when combined appear to show strong circumstantial evidence.

There is no doubt he is a man with repellent sexual leanings. A self-confessed drug dealer and burglar, he is serving a seven-year sentence in a German prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in her home on the south coast of Portugal, not far from Praia da Luz in 2005.

He denies having anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance. But to the general public, desperate for this notorious mystery to be solved and for an end to the ordeal of Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, his guilt might now seem beyond question as a result of the German prosecutors' reports.

I have been investigating the truth of what happened to Maddie, who was nine days away from her fourth birthday when she disappeared on May 3, 2007, since the beginning. Within 72 hours of the alarm being raised by Kate, when she checked on her three children during dinner at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz and found that Madeleine was gone, I flew to the Algarve.

I have followed every twist of the story with intense interest ever since. It is my fervent wish to see the perpetrator caught but that cannot be achieved by selecting a likely scapegoat and pinning the allegations on him.

Worse, if the wrong man is convicted of Madeleine's murder, then the real killer remains free.

In my determination to get to the truth, I have interviewed more people, tracked down more witnesses and broken down more obstacles than any other investigator. I have spoken in depth to the German prosecutors and Brueckner's solicitor as well as corresponding with the suspect himself. What I have uncovered is deeply troubling. The much-vaunted confession in a bar simply doesn't stand up.

Not only is there no proof that it ever happened but the man accusing Brueckner lacks all credibility. It is concerning that the German police ever took his statements seriously.

There is no doubt Brueckner was in the Algarve around the time of Madeleine's abduction. One woman's testimony proves that. But this woman, who was just 17 at the time of her brief relationship with the known drug pedlar and thief, can also place him miles away from Praia da Luz – and denies that his behaviour that week was in any way out of the ordinary. Just as damaging are my findings about the mobile supposedly used by Brueckner in Praia da Luz in the minutes before Maddie went missing. The idea that it pinpoints his whereabouts is just not accurate

No one should imagine that I have anything but contempt and disgust for Brueckner. As I tracked his meanderings over the past 15 years, I found numerous sickening proofs of his sexual deviance.

At one of his former lairs, a derelict shoe box factory in Braunschweig, Germany, police unearthed a massive stash of child abuse material. He bought the land in 2010 and sometimes stayed there in his camper van.

A barmaid named Karola told me he took her there: 'It was unnerving even during daylight, and my colleague and I were joking, 'Nobody would notice if he made somebody disappear here'.' The site was discovered by police when a walker reported a foul stench.

Officers found the body of one of Brueckner's dogs under a heap of child abuse material.

At that time, Brueckner ran a tobacconist's kiosk. A former employee named Sabrina told me he beat his girlfriend, a young Russian woman, leaving her covered in bruises. 'He was a pig of a man,' she said.

He was convicted in Germany in 2012 of dealing in indecent images, 19 years after he was charged with two counts of sexually assaulting children when he was just 17.

And in 2017 he was arrested for exposing himself to children in a playground. With such vile behaviour, it's easy to assume he must capable of abducting and killing a three-year-old.

And, knowing that he was in the Algarve in May 2007, that appears to be exactly what German police have done. But being a child abuser does not make you a child killer.

Through meticulous inquiries, I have been digging into those assumptions. And their foundations are weak or non-existent.

For many, the phone mast evidence is the most damning. Prosecutors say confidently that Brueckner was using a Portuguese mobile with a number ending in '680' in early 2007.

Phone records show categorically that, between 7.32pm and 8.02pm, this number was in use to another Portuguese phone, ending in '683'. It has been widely reported that analysis of the signal places the '680' number very close to the Ocean Club, perhaps even outside the McCanns' window. To add to the circumstantial evidence, the '683' number I have linked to a sex offender whose activity on the internet's 'dark web' sites is also heavily linked to child abusers. But there's a major problem.

I cannot find any evidence '680' was ever Brueckner's regular number, in fact I have found contra evidence. The German police have just one witness, a woman who says she called '680' and spoke to Brueckner.

With so much publicity around the case, I would expect to see many people coming forward to confirm that the suspect was using this number.

In fact, there is irrefutable evidence from multiple witnesses that '680' was regularly used by a different man, a close friend of Brueckner's who was also based in south Portugal. Paperwork and an official document that I have seen show this was his phone – not Brueckner's. So it can't be established the suspect was even using '680' on the evening Madeleine was taken.

My investigation has demolished this evidence in a second way. We know the phone call at 7.32pm 'pinged' off a mast 200 yards from the Ocean Club.

But that doesn't mean the user was nearby as the mast has a range of up to 21 miles.

When mobiles 'talk' to two or three masts, it is often possible to locate them by triangulation. That is not what happened here.

The bare fact is that someone, almost certainly not Brueckner, received a 30-minute call on '680' somewhere in south Portugal that evening. This is not compelling evidence and actually makes the phone number ending '680' irrelevant. My findings have been presented to the German authorities who say they are not bothered by the phone mast evidence.

Nor do they seem concerned at the unreliability of the convicted drug dealer and people trafficker who claims Brueckner confessed in a bar in 2008 to killing Madeleine. His name is Helge Busching and he is, quite simply, a fantasist.

One informant showed me a video of Busching in paramilitary kit, spouting nonsense about the case.

Busching and an associate, Manfred Seyferth, told police they saw videos filmed by Brueckner as he beat and raped a 72-year-old woman. Those tapes have never been produced.

Busching lacks real credibility and should be treated very cautiously as a witness. Even his initial statement to police is a major concern because he was given payment for information.

It could be argued Busching and Seyferth would say almost anything for money. Busching has said he will give an interview for 50,000 euros to be paid into the McCanns' fighting fund – a bizarre stipulation. So far, he has had no takers.

Brueckner has repeatedly offered to be interviewed and then withdrawn. I wrote to him in prison, and eventually he agreed to see me. That was vetoed by the German authorities but Brueckner did write a four-page letter in which he admitted living in Praia da Luz in the early 2000s before being jailed for sex offences.

He insisted that, after his release in 2006, he did not return to the resort. Instead, he started importing and dealing drugs from his camper van along the coast.

One of his prime sites, he said, was Barranco Beach, 20km (12 miles) from Praia da Luz. That is corroborated by a photo of his van by the cliffs there.



'I was selling drugs on a large scale,' he wrote. 'I'd make trips back and forth to Spain, bringing drugs back, marijuana, making a good living.' That tallies with his criminal record: his first arrest for drug dealing came after 2007.

The letter contained another assertion that could exonerate him completely. Brueckner claims he has an alibi.

During the week when Madeleine went missing, he was in a brief relationship with a 17-year-old German on holiday with her parents. Each night, she would leave their lodgings and spend several hours with Brueckner in his van.

Her family was staying in Carvoeiro, about 44km (27 miles) from Praia da Luz – about 40 minutes by road. Each evening he would leave the beach, drive into the town, park and leave at 10am.

Flight records show this family was in the Algarve that week. And that on May 10 the girl came to the notice of police as she was illegally carrying a pepper spray.

I have tracked down this woman, now 32, to a small town in Germany. She is very reluctant to take part in the inquiry, though if she is formally called by the police she will have to give evidence at trial.

That evidence surely rules out Brueckner. I confirm that, although she cannot say exactly what they were doing on May 3, she is sure his behaviour showed no changes or signs of stress that week.

And even more significant is that in the days after Madeleine disappeared, Brueckner was driving around in the van in which she was apparently abducted

Is it conceivable that this man drove to Praia da Luz, kidnapped a three-year-old some time after 9pm, abused and probably killed her, disposed of her body and then drove for more than half-an-hour, to meet his girlfriend?

Could he have acted as though nothing had occurred?

I must reiterate that Brueckner groomed and abused children. But there is a massive difference between committing these offences and the abduction and murder of a child. Nothing I have seen suggests he has a predilection to kill, let alone that he could carry out so hideous an act and then behave, an hour later, as if nothing had happened.

None of the supposed evidence against him stands up. No wonder over two years on, the German prosecutors have not charged him. I have no evidence Brueckner is responsible for the abduction and murder of Madeleine McCann.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10776129/Madeleine-McCann-suspect-Christian-Brueckner-claims-miles-away-having-sex-woman.html

What I believe really happened that night

Despite poisonous rumours and speculation by people who lack real insight into the crime, there is no evidence at all against Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate.

They were clearly not involved in any way with her disappearance. But Portuguese police made a grave error by failing to treat them as suspects immediately.

That is simply good practice: they should have systematically eliminated those closest to the child from their inquiries to clear the ground from under their feet.

Instead police started with the assumption that a stranger had abducted her. When that theory faltered, they aggressively turned their focus on the McCanns.

Gerry and Kate were in an impossible situation, at the centre of a worldwide media storm and out of their minds with worry for their daughter. When they were declared formal suspects, or arguidos, whatever they did was bound to be criticised.

So what is the truth of Madeleine's disappearance? The mistake most investigators have made was to assume she was taken from her bed in the apartment.

In fact, it is far more likely that Maddie left on her own. That morning, she had said that her brother and sister, twins Sean and Amelie, two, had woken up during the previous evening while the adults were out at dinner, and that their crying disturbed her.

What would be more natural than for Madeleine, woken again by her brother or sister, to go looking for her parents? Perhaps she turned the wrong way as she left the flat and wandered into the car park.

Wherever she was, a predatory stranger saw her and acted on impulse.

One of the McCanns' friends, Jane Tanner, thought she saw a man carrying a small child in pyjamas when she went at 9.15pm to check the children were sleeping. Perhaps that was the abductor – or perhaps no one saw him at all.

This kind of opportunistic crime is very rare but not unknown. My hunch is that more than one person knows what happened to Madeleine. I live in hope that the silence could break, as allegiances shift or attitudes change.

What about the woman who claimed to be Brueckner's girlfriend at the time, who told the Mirror newspaper, Brueckner told her he had a horrible job to do the night before Madeleine vanished.

He said it was something he had to do and it would change his life.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-suspect-horrible-job-22166869

No mention of the dogs evidence is there, explain that if you can MW-Thomas.

Snipped from above.

No mention of the dogs evidence is there, explain that if you can MW-Thomas.

Snipped from above.

One of the McCanns' friends, Jane Tanner, thought she saw a man carrying a small child in pyjamas when she went at 9.15pm to check the children were sleeping. Perhaps that was the abductor – or perhaps no one saw him at all.




Perhaps it was Gerry who had handed Madeleine to him, we can all come up with a lot of what ifs.

Good for MWT, it's the first time in 15 years that he brought something important, if not crucial to this case instead of the usual dissing of the Portuguese police, which still might happen during the the 3 episode series to be broadcast on the 5th on AMC Crime, here in Portugal.

My personal opinion on this all:

It's a shit show. Really is. Sandra F., Jon Clarke, the Spanish guy Harrrshhwhatever, and a few others are hell bent in trying to make this guy the perfect scapegoat. It would be perfect politically, for both Portugal and England, to close this case with this guy, who can defend him, except for his new mouth piece Mcfadden and his own lawyer?

He is without any doubts a sadistic sexual predator, he abuses elderly women, children, teens, anything goes. The big question is can a phone ping point to his culpability? If so, then there are thousand other suspects whose mobile phones also pinged in or around the vicinity of Praia da Luz that day and on that night, and all of those people would have to be constituted as arguidos too. What else is there that is not merely circumstantial? I'm seeing people trying to forcibly match 2+2 and tell us all that is 5 i.e. he's a paedo + he was around there in Luz = he is the abductor and murderer without a single trace of forensic evidence or a proper investigation, and a televised investigation isn't a proper police investigation.

That the Portuguese prosecutor from Faro is using this constitution of an arguido as an expedient to keep the process, the case open, is absolutely shameful. Everyone keeps forgetting the McCanns and their pals could at any time force the investigation to remain open, they refused to do this when the case was archived in July 2008 and then requested the absolutely shambolic investigation by Met Police to the then British prime minister, via Murdoch's tabloids, but they could have done the reconstruction asked by the PJ. Then and now, they still have in their hands the power to keep this case open. Let's not forget this when we read headlines in the media saying that they have asked for CB to be constituted as an arguido so the investigation wouldn't close for good, there are dozen articles in the Spanish media stating this, unbelievable!  

I'm completely ashamed of the Portuguese institutions, politicians, even by the current PJ stance, throughout the last 15 years they've allowed this investigation to be led by the whims of the English media, of English politicians, by an English investigation that took place only annually in Portugal, coincidentally on the 25th of April a meaningful date for us Portuguese or in May, right before the holiday season started, an investigation that has yielded NOTHING but a waste of over 15 million euros.
Now, we have a German prosecutor who boasted to have forensic evidence against CB, that he knew Madeleine McCann was murdered by him without any forensics and is now saying he doesn't have ANYTHING! The whole German thing, can't even be called an investigation, was farcical, they went on TV and showed every bit of information about CB, his photo, and his van, his cars, his house, and even offered a money reward which resulted, obviously, in over 200 calls. WTF were they thinking, how is this proper police procedure when investigating a suspect?!

Are this the guys now running the investigation? Apparently, they are. So what exactly is the role of the PJ and the PGR in all this? Submissively following every idiotic thing a prosecutor from another country says? A prosecutor that has not read the case files fully since he doesn't speak Portuguese, has little to no knowledge of the Portuguese law, who has no experience of this case first hand and hasn't likely even set foot in Luz? This is laughable and also so infuriating, it's outrageous that once again there are people making a mockery of a missing child's case, a case that should have been investigated without any political or media interference.

She's the only victim in all this, as well as her twin siblings, and she will not get any justice.

I'm not sure Brueckner would tell anyone anything about what he was up to.
She is one of many women who knew Brueckner and had a story to tell to anyone that would listen.

Pat Brown 2 hours ago.

So much for GB news free speech.

Yep, I noticed all the programmes on GB News that mentioned Madeleine only went with the official narrative.

Pat never stood a chance.

CaKeLoveR wrote:

crusader wrote:What about the woman who claimed to be Brueckner's girlfriend at the time, who told the Mirror newspaper, Brueckner told her he had a horrible job to do the night before Madeleine vanished.
He said it was something he had to do and it would change his life.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-suspect-horrible-job-22166869

The problem I have with this is - what would C.B. consider to be  'a horrible job'. I don't think he would baulk at anything at all.

I was a Police frogman.  I was also a Sergeant during the outbreak of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which sprang up and almost as suddenly disappeared.  
I tried to protect my young officers with young families by dealing with them myself, with another PC who was unmarried.  They were all the same
Babies apparently "boiled" to death. Bright red, and their skin coming away if you touched them.
 
Recovering a body is a "horrible job".
Recovering the body of a young person or of a child is an even more "horrible job".

Twins (8 yrs old) under the ice on a ballast pond near Balderton, Christmas Day 1974
Cromwell Lock, 1975.  An entire platoon of Territorials from one village in Scotland drowned trying to shoot the weir.

Thing about it.
And think about what he might be trying to tell the world.

The Madeleine mystery 15 years on
By Portugal Resident -3rd May 2022

This is the most reported cold case in history and, 15 years after Madeleine’s disappearance, the general public are still fascinated, obsessed or simply bored by it all.

‘Maddie’ is constantly making headline news around the world and yet most of the reports leave us none the wiser.

Almost all the stories in the foreign mainstream media refer to her “abduction” despite the fact there is no sound evidence whatsoever that, on the evening of May 3, 2007, the McCanns’ holiday apartment in Praia da Luz was broken into or that Madeleine was kidnapped.

The activities of foreign private investigators and police forces can, in my view, only be realistically explained as either investigative incompetence or some sort of cover-up.

Before being taken off the case in Portugal in October 2007 for an off-the-cuff remark about British police, Inspector Gonçalo Amaral had considered abduction but ruled it out, yet foreign newspapers – particularly the British tabloids – have been going on and on about ‘abduction’ presumably because it has always been Kate and Gerry McCann’s assertion as well as that of the London Metropolitan Police’s Operation Grange enquiry.

The remit of Operation Grange to only examine the abduction theory was especially strange as some top London detectives said such a limited operation was doomed to fail and that the matter should be fully considered from all angles, beginning as normal with any possible involvement by the parents or close friends.

Two years ago, police in Germany introduced Christian B to the scene. He became the ‘prime suspect’ in Madeleine’s disappearance. There had been many suspects before in Portugal but claims by German authorities that they were 100% certain Madeleine was dead and that Christian B killed her have been dominating the news stories ever since, even though he has not been charged and no clear evidence against him has yet been produced.

The German prosecutor hadn’t even formally interviewed Christian B until two weeks ago. He apparently did so on behalf of the Portuguese authorities just in time to make him an arguido (official suspect) on the eve of the 15-year statute of limitations on prosecuting serious crimes in this country.

By all accounts, Christian B, as he is known under German privacy laws, is indeed a serial sex offender who will deservedly remain locked up in prison in Germany for at least seven years. His lawyer, however, thinks the reason for making him the ‘prime suspect’ in the Madeleine case is ridiculous and Christian B himself firmly denies any involvement.

One of the most reputable journalists on the Madeleine case from the start has been Sky News’ crime correspondent Martin Brunt. He reported on Monday that Christian B was now claiming he was far away from Praia da Luz at the time of the disappearance. He said he was having sex in his camper van with a young German woman who will back up his alibi.

He said Portuguese police stopped them at a roadblock while he was driving her to Faro Airport for a flight home.

The woman, described as “a drifter”, was reportedly arrested by airport security for carrying illegal pepper spray and later appeared in court. The Portuguese police should have records of all this, according to Christian B.

But what on earth is this shambolic fuss all about when hundreds of other children go missing every day in countries across the world? Well, for one thing, the global interest is profitable for newspapers led by the British tabloids whose articles are recycled by papers as far away as New Zealand and even the Punjab.

Most careful, independent analysts believe the whole thing is a scandalous sham. Without a confession by one or more of the culprits, the case is probably finished. For sure, the reporting will go on, but we may never know the truth.

By LEN PORT

MWT still sticking with his " theory " that Madeleine left the apartment on her own to look for her parents and was picked up by an opportunist , happily like everyone else ignoring Eddie and Keela those " incredibly unreliable " dogs ! 

Really , a 3 year old leaving the apartment in the dark by herself ? If as he suggests she turned the wrong way and into the car park that suggests she left by the allegedly locked front door the door Gerry said in his first statement he entered by ! 

If she'd left through the unlocked patio door closing it behind her , opened the child gate closing it behind her down the steep stone steps through another gate and into the road
The road that various members of the group were up and down all night like a Benny Hill sketch . All this without being seen by anyone  ? A 3 year old in bare feet without her allegedly favourite toy or the mysteriously vanishing pink blanket to keep her warm and was never seen again !!!! 

I think he's got one thing right , his " hunch " that more than one person knows what happened to Madeleine . 

Ask Kate Mr Williams Thomas , she says she knows what happened , she was there , ask her what the " other circumstances " are ? 

Or of course there's always the " deep trench " Mr Clarke wrote about in his book , you know , the other " version of the  truth " !

Good article and very brave of Len.

Good article w/ video by Mark S.  

Case against Maddie suspect 'very weak' and helps 'real' killer remain at-large, documentary claims https://www.9news.com.au/world/madeleine-mccann-case-against-christian-brueckner-very-weak-new-documentary-claims/e2edd906-920c-405c-b96d-d9cf8106c510

Video with Wolters interview https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t17311-portuguese-news-maddie-case-2022#452754

And this morning we are back to fibres from the pyjamas.

Errr .. .    Which pyjamas ?
"The actual pyjamas she was wearing" which the McCanns held up and showed the world, and we suppose still have ?
OR – pyjamas similar in make, fabric and fibres which were sold in their tens of thousands around that time.  Including in some of the parents' accounts for the twins, which was one of the reasons for having the pair, or an identical pair.
In which case fibres will tell you nothing, except that they are cotton and artificial mix, and dyed with a particular chemical.
Since the fabric is likely to have been bought in vast rolls, to be made into a variety of items, pyjamas, nightdresses, and probably for different retailers, the fibres on their own are not capable of telling you that they are from Madeleine's Pyjamas.

And if they have a fibre, they have to match it TO something.  
They can't match it with fibres from THE pyjamas, since she was wearing them and they must have gone with her.
Unless the pyjamas the McCann's held up in the Netherlands and they have kept in a drawer in her bedroom ever since were Madeleine's in which case she was not abducted.

So they have an alleged fibre, allegedly. 
Given that Brückner is alleged to be a serial pae***** it is likely that there will be fibres from all sorts of children's and women's clothing in his various camper vans
[see Pyjamas thread passim.]
But we are solemnly told by Clarke's favourite outlet, the SUN, that they have a fibre from Madeleine's pyjamas.
So it must be true, in the Olive Press usage of that word.

All of which I suspect H. Wolters understands.  The BKA certainly will.

There's a cross-over of interests here, between Brueckner and the 15th anniversary - I'll stick it here as it primarily concerns the fate of someone named as Christian Brueckner, reported to be the 'prime suspect' in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

A Mail update of yesterday's report from Nic Pisa on location. I've left out the images, it's nothing new..

German prosecutor leading Madeleine McCann probe makes bombshell revelation of a breakthrough during TV interview as her parents hold prayer vigil in their home town to mark 15 years since the three-year-old disappeared

The revelation came exactly 15 years to the day since three-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished
German prosecutor said he could not deny investigators had found new evidence in the van of prime suspect
Christian Brueckner, 45, is a convicted rapist and paedophile who is already behind bars in Germany
Investigators may have found new evidence in the back of his campervan which he used in Portugal
Kate and Gerry McCann attended a vigil to mark the 15-year anniversary of their daughter's disappearance

By Nick Pisa In The Algarve and David Averre For Mailonline and Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter

Published: 22:33, 3 May 2022 | Updated: 13:00, 4 May 2022

The German investigator probing the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has sensationally revealed there is 'new evidence' linking paedophile prime suspect Christian Brueckner to her abduction.

Speaking on Portuguese TV last night, 15 years to the day since she vanished in Praia da Luz, prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said he is 'sure' the toddler was murdered and that Brueckner, 45, did it.

Mr Wolters was interviewed on a show called Sabado yesterday to mark the anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance from her parents' holiday apartment at Praia da Luz on Portugal's Algarve coast.

He said: 'The investigation is still going on and we have found some new facts, some new evidence, not forensic evidence but evidence.'

The German prosecutor then repeated his 2020 claim that Brueckner, a convicted paedophile in prison for raping a pensioner, was responsible for her murder and said: 'We are sure that he killed Madeleine McCann. I can't give you any more details for the moment.'

It has been speculated by The Sun that the new evidence in question could be fibres from the Maddie's pink Eeyore pyjamas after she was bundled into the back of the van, despite Mr Wolters' insistence the evidence is 'not forensic'.

When asked by host Sandra Felgueiras whether it was 'true that you have found something of Madeleine McCann in Christian Brueckner's van', Mr Wolters replied: 'I'm not going to comment on the details of the investigation.' But when pressed by the interviewer: 'But you can't deny it?' Mr Wolters responded: 'I don't want to deny it', adding: 'The suspect has not yet been informed'.

Under German law, details of a police investigation cannot be revealed until a suspect and their lawyers are given the full details. The case can then be made public.

Wolters' appearance on Portuguese TV yesterday coincided with a memorial service held to commemorate the 15-year anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.

Kate and Gerry McCann were warmly welcomed by their community during a poignant prayer service in their home village of Rothley, Leicestershire. Mrs McCann read a poem while clutching her necklace made up of three rings, likely to symbolise Maddie and the couple's two other children.

Convicted rapist and paedophile Brueckner was named by German prosecutors as prime suspect in the case two years ago with investigators saying they had 'concrete evidence' she was dead.

But since then there has been little sign of him being charged, prompting speculation there is not enough evidence of his involvement in her disappearance and earlier this week it emerged Brueckner claims to have an alibi the night she vanished.

Kate and Gerry, who hold on to hope that Madeleine - who would now be aged nearly 19 - is still alive, appeared overwhelmed by the support as they joined in prayers and readings to mark the occasion.

The annual outdoor event has been cancelled over the past two years because of Covid restrictions. Kate and Gerry said last night: 'This year we mark fifteen years since we last saw Madeleine. It feels no harder than any other but no easier either. It's a very long time.'





In 2019 Kate turned up alone with her twins Sean and Amelie - now aged 17 - as her heart doctor husband was away in Italy at an important medical conference.

Former surgery GP turned hospital medical worker Kate, 54, had dashed from work to join Gerry at the war memorial for the welcomed event.

Kate, wearing black jeans, cornflower blue V-neck sweater and trainers, fought back tears as children lit candles for Madeleine and other lost youngsters.

Neither parent addressed the 100-strong crowd but Kate, wearing reading glasses, read a poem, saying: 'Survival can be summed up three words: Never give up.

'That's the heart of it really, just keep trying.

'Sometimes you have to get knocked down, lower than you have ever been, to stand up taller than you ever were.

'Perseverance is stubbornness.'

Prime suspect Brueckner has insisted he was with an 18-year-old German woman, having sex in his camper van miles away from where Madeleine vanished from and he has given full details to a US documentary.

When he was named in June 2020 police asked for information in the distinctive yellow and white T3 campervan and DNA experts have been examining it ever since.

In her report Sandra highlighted how the fact that Mr Wolters refused to deny that something of Madeleine's had been found was proof of his guilt.

Mr Wolters also revealed how he had not been in touch with the McCanns and said: 'There is no relationship between the McCanns and me. I have never spoken with them and I have never written to them. There is no relationship.'

He also highlighted how the fact that Portuguese police had made Brueckner an 'arguido' or suspect in the case showed the German investigation was 'going the right way'.

Brueckner is currently serving seven years for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, two years before Madeleine was snatched and he is in Germany's Oldenburg jail.

Prosecutors are investigating him over the rape of a Irish tour guide Hazel Behan in the Algarve as well as a sexual assault in Praia da Luz on a ten-year-old German girl a month before Madeleine disappeared.

He is also being probed over an indecent exposure in a children's playground in the Algarve and last month MailOnline revealed he was also being investigated over two further rapes.

The McCanns joined family, friends and villagers for their informal evening service yesterday as Wolters spoke with Portuguese TV.

A family source said: 'Kate and Gerry enjoy going to the service for a time of prayer and quiet reflection. They always appreciate the support of the public.'

They met in the chilly night air at Cross Green on the milestone anniversary - where a candle for the world's most famous missing child still burns around the clock.

During the service, local children went up to light candles to remember Madeleine, or a special person of their choice.

One little girl tripped and stumbled on the ground as she ran back to her mother, and a concerned Kate joined others calling 'Whoops!' then smiled as the child picked herself up unscathed.

Renowned and respected cardiologist Gerry, 53, casually dressed in navy trousers, salmon-pink T-shirt and grey-blue sweater, later individually thanked well wishers for attending the half-hour gathering.

Vicar of the local parish church, The Rev. Rob Gladstone, who led the prayers, opened the service by telling the crowd: 'Once again after a gap of two years we're able to come together again here at Cross Green to remember Madeleine, to show solidarity to Kate and Gerry, Sean and Amelie.

'Lord we thank you for sustaining Gerry and Kate through these painful years.

'Keep us their hope of finding Madeleine, of discovering the truth of her disappearance... real hope is hard won.'

During the gathering, touching messages of support were read out by children.

Iconic pictures of a young Madeleine were tied to the railing around the war memorial and a vase of fresh yellow flowers was placed on the ground.

The Madeleine candle burned brightly as Rev Gladstone said: 'We hope the light here in Rothley dispels the darkness.'

At times Kate and Gerry appeared tearful, at other times they smiled.

Kate, who appeared to be limping, was hugged by friends and supporters.

Three-year-old Madeleine vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz in May 2007.

She was discovered missing from her bed in the seaside complex by her horrified mum shortly after 10pm. She had been left alone her younger siblings while her parents were dining in a nearby tapas restaurant with their seven pals.

Madeleine's great uncle, retired head teacher Brian Kennedy, 83, who lives in the same village and has attended all 13 anniversary gatherings with his wife Janet, said: 'Kate and Gerry feel heartened that something positive seems to be happening with the investigation.

'They are being kept updated by the Met Police but they have no details to share now.

'They have never lost hope even after all these years, and in juts over a week's time Madeleine would be 19.

'If you had told our family 15 years it would go on for so long without a resolution we would have thought that was very unlikely.'

He had earlier read a poem 'The Beacon' previously written for Kate and Gerry by former Poet Laureate Simon Armitage.

Madeleine's parents told of their 'need for answers' in a public posting on the eve of the latest anniversary which they say is 'a very long time.'

In a heartfelt posting on Monday on the Find Maddie and Official Campaign websites, the McCanns wrote: 'Many people talk about the need for ''closure''. It's always felt a strange term.

'Regardless of outcome, Madeleine will always be our daughter and a truly horrific crime has been committed. These things will remain.

'It is true though that uncertainty creates weakness; knowledge and certainty give strength, and for this reason our need for answers, for the truth, is essential.'

The couple praised three nations' police forces for their continued work in trying to crack the painstaking case.

They posted: 'We are grateful for the ongoing work and commitment of the UK, Portuguese and German authorities as it is this combined police effort which will yield results and bring us those answers.'

They added: 'As always, we would like to thank all of our supporters for their continued good wishes and support.

'It is a huge comfort to know that regardless of time passed, Madeleine is still in people's hearts and minds. Thank you. Kate and Gerry.'

Their post is accompanied by a touching phrase from Winnie the Pooh author AA Milne, with a picture of Pooh bear and Piglet, saying: 'But the most important thing is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10779965/Fibres-Madeleine-McCanns-pyjamas-prime-suspect-Christian-Brueckners-campervan.html

What do we know about Maddie murder suspect Christian Brueckner and his criminal past?



1976: Christian Brueckner (pictured) is born in Würzburg under a different name, believed to be Fischer. He was adopted by the Brueckner family and took their surname.

1992: Christian Brueckner is arrested on suspicion of burglary in his hometown of Wurzburg, Bavaria.

1994: He is given a two-year youth jail sentence for 'abusing a child' and 'performing sex acts in front of a child'.

1995: Brueckner arrives in Portugal as an 18-year-old backpacker and begins working in catering in the seaside resorts of Lagos and Praia da Luz.

But friends say he became involved with a criminal syndicate trafficking drugs into the Algarve.

September 2005: He dons a mask and breaks into an apartment where he rapes a 72-year-old American tourist.

The victim was bound, gagged, blindfolded and whipped with a metal cane before being raped for 15 minutes. She said afterwards that he had clearly enjoyed 'torturing' her before the rape.

April 2007: He moves out of a farmhouse and into a campervan now linked to the crime. The farmhouse is cleaned and a bag of wigs and 'exotic clothes' is found.

May 3, 2007: Madeleine McCann is snatched at around 10pm from her bed as her parents eat tapas with friends yards away.

Brueckner's mobile phone places him in the area that night. He returns to his native Germany shortly after that.

October 2011: He is sentenced to 21 months for 'dealing narcotics' in Niebüll, in northern Germany.



2014: He moves to Braunschweig where he starts running a town-centre kiosk. He then goes back to Portugal with a girlfriend.

2016: He is back in Germany. He is given 15 months in prison for 'sexual abuse of a child in the act of creating and possessing child pornographic material'.

May 3, 2017: Brueckner is said to be in a bar with a friend when a ten-year anniversary appeal following Madeleine's disappearance is shown on German television.

He is said to have told him in a bar that he 'knew all about' what happened to her. He then showed his friend a video of him raping a woman.

MailOnline understands the friend went to police shortly afterwards.

June 2017: He heads back to Portugal and extradited again to Germany. The reason was a sentencing of the Braunschweig district court to 15 months' imprisonment for the sexual abuse of a child.

August 2018: After his release from prison he lives on the streets. But he was jailed again for drug offences.

September 2018: Brueckner is arrested in Milan, Italy and extradited to Germany and put on trial for raping the American tourist in 2007 after a DNA match to hair found at the crime scene.

July 2019: He is jailed for 21 months for drug dealing in the northern German resort of Sylt.

August 2019: Brueckner is charged with the rape of the American tourist in Praia da Luz in 2005.

December 2019: He is convicted of rape of extortion of the tourist based on DNA evidence. He is given a seven year sentence, but this has not been imposed pending an appeal.

June 3, 2020: Scotland Yard and the German police reveal that that they have identified a suspect in the Maddie McCann case

June 4, 2020: Prosecutors in Braunschweig, where he lives, say they believe Madeleine McCann has been murdered, says spokesman Hans Christian Wolters. He is named in the German press as the prime suspect.

May 4, 2021: 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.

April 21, 2022: Christian Brueckner, now 44, is made an 'arguido', a formal suspect, by Portuguese authorities. But he has not been charged.

This is just disgraceful, is there no code of conduct, ethics, left in the world of journalism?

Sandra Felgueiras is a conniving minx, a career junkie who'll stop at nothing on the ladder of stardom. The ask the dogs interview with Gerry and Kate McCann all those years ago, the interview that sent social media into a frenzy because of a few words spoken, was nothing but another attempt at career advancement for Ms Felgueiras. She even gets a personal, slightly derogative, mention in Jon Clarke's booky wooky - that in itself speaks volumes.

This has been proven time and time again over the years, more recently her prominence in one or more of the 'Prime Suspect: Madeleine McCann Documentary productions.

This nonsense makes me so angry. The major problem being that the general public, those who haven't followed this case since the beginning, will believe what they read without question.

Even The Times has taken-up the story - for that is what this is, a story.

UK NEWS

Item belonging to Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brückner ‘found in his van’

Oliver Moody, Berlin
Wednesday May 04 2022, 9.45am BST, The Times

An item belonging to Madeleine McCann has been found in a camper van belonging to a German paedophile accused of abducting the young British girl 15 years ago, it was claimed last night.

If the discovery is confirmed it will be one of the first significant breakthroughs in the two-year investigation into Christian Brückner, who has been identified as the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.

Sandra Felgueiras, a Portuguese television presenter who has covered the case for several years, claimed a local police source had told her that one of Madeleine’s possessions had turned up in a fresh search of Brückner’s old VW camper van.

Brückner was living in the van at a location several miles away from the McCann family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, on the Algarve coast of Portugal, when the girl vanished in 2007.

His mobile phone is said to have been active in the area on the evening in question but he has repeatedly denied any involvement in her suspected kidnapping and insists he has an alibi.

However, Hans-Christian Wolters, the prosecutor leading the German investigation into the case, said his team had uncovered “new facts and new evidence”, without going into details.

There has been unconfirmed speculation in parts the British press that the item may be several threads from the pink Winnie the Pooh-branded pyjamas Madeleine was wearing on the night she disappeared.

Wolters told Portuguese TV: “It’s not forensic evidence, but evidence, and because of our evidence, we are sure [Brückner] is the murderer of Madeleine McCann.”

Asked by Felgueiras whether it was true that an article associated with Madeleine had been found in Brückner’s van, Wolters said he could not comment on the details of the investigation.

Brückner, 45, is serving a seven-year prison sentence in the northwest German town of Oldenburg for raping a 72-year-old American tourist on the Algarve. He has multiple previous convictions for a range of crimes including child abuse, theft and drug trafficking.

Yesterday it emerged that he had been denied parole by a court because of the risk that he would reoffend. His legal team had applied for the sentence to be lifted after he served half of the term, including a period in pre-trial detention.

The application was rejected on April 21. On the same day Brückner was interviewed for the first time by German prosecutors, acting on behalf of the Portuguese police. The authorities in Portugal recently named him as an arguido, meaning a suspect who has yet to be arrested or charged. This measure appears to be an effort to circumvent Portugal’s 15-year statute of limitation on serious crimes.

However, Brückner invoked his right to remain silent under Portuguese law and declined to answer any questions about where he had been when Madeleine disappeared.

German prosecutors have indicated that they intend to charge Brückner in the coming months but he may first face charges for other crimes, including the alleged rape of Hazel Behan, a young Irishwoman, in 2004.

Yesterday, in a statement marking the 15th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance, her parents said they still felt an “essential . . . need for answers”.

Kate and Gerry McCann posted on their website an illustration of Pooh and Piglet together with the words: “The most important thing is, even if we’re apart, I’ll always be with you.”

“It’s a very long time,” the McCanns wrote on their Find Madeleine website. “Many people talk about the need for ‘closure’. It’s always felt a strange term. Regardless of outcome, Madeleine will always be our daughter and a truly horrific crime has been committed.

“These things will remain. It is true though that uncertainty creates weakness; knowledge and certainty give strength, and for this reason our need for answers, for the truth, is essential.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/madeleine-mccann-suspect-christian-brueckner-is-denied-parole-qclc88drm

Comments have been heavily vetted .

So suddenly the run-down camper van makes a re-appearance for another photo-shoot and forensic examination.

Where has it been since Brueckner allegedly last sat at the wheel?

If fibres have been found in the van, how do we link that find to Madeleine McCann?  If Madeleine was abducted and transported in the van, dead or alive, if wearing pyjamas she was allegedly wearing when abducted - how can you connect without the missing pyjamas?

DNA?  Forensic evidence?  But Herr Wolter says there is no evidence - allegedly.

Where is the profile for Madeleine's DNA?  Still on that mysterious pillow case collected by Gerry McCann on his first trip back to the UK in May 2007?  

The trip from which he returned to Portugal with excess baggage in the form of a government media monitoring director - photographs of Madeleine previously unseen - a pillow case.  A pillow case said to be used exclusively by Madeleine at the Roafley household,  a clean reference source of Madeleine's DNA stuffed in a back-pack, alongside the stolen wallet and whine gums?

Beam me up Scotty ....

Times comments were heavily vetted. / Censored.

It took over 4 hours for mine to be allowed to squeak through
"PeterMac
3 HOURS AGO
If they have found ‘several threads’ they will have to be compared with control samples from the original pyjamas. Even that will only tell whether they are from the same batch of material from which no doubt thousands of pyjamas and other nightclothes were made, possibly in India, and sent to distributors and retailers throughout the world. But that too will be difficult since the pyjamas were supposed to have been ‘abducted’ at the same time.
I fear this is Tabloids clutching at ‘fibres’ to make a story."

From Farcebook:

Sandra Felgueiras
4h  ·
It's been two years since I've heard the most diverse conspiracy theories about Christian Bruckner since German justice pointed him out as the murder of Madeleine McCann.
I have my well-educated opinion on this matter, but while I listen, my job is to report facts, not rumors, nor convictions.
But my real duty to public opinion is no less when we are talking about a politician or a police officer. Or a former police officer who relentlessly influenced the public opinion.
For this reason, in 2008, when I read all the volumes of the investigation conducted by Gonçalo Amaral, I found that the alleged evidence he collected against the McCann couple was not evidence but assumptions. A kind of "copy-paste" of what I had done in the Joana case investigation.
The so-called evidence found by the dogs in the room of the apartment where they vacationed and in McCann’s rental car a month after their daughter’s disappearance has not been lab-confirmed to belong to Madeleine. And it was this irrefutable fact by science that led the Portuguese justice system to eliminate them.
But when this truth came public, Gonçalo Amaral had already been removed from the case for speaking to journalists. One of them used a statement from him on "on" and that was why she was removed.
From then on, the said inspector started a fight, writing books and making documentaries insisting on his thesis and accusing the superiors who fired him for not letting him do the job he should because of political pressure.
But the question I ask is, does any good cop start by identifying a suspect and then force his theory to fit into the theory he preconceived?
No. No good investigator does that. But Gonçalo Amaral did it. And insists on doing so.
And that's why there are no eternal truths.
There are facts that will be revealed.
Until 2019, no one had associated Christian Bruckner to the Madeleine case despite him being outside the Ocean Club at the time of his disappearance and being a known pedophile to the Portuguese and German authorities.
I understand that for the Portuguese public opinion it is easier to believe that McCann's negligence by leaving their children alone, while they went to dinner with their friends, turns them into the real culprits.
But this couple has been living with that guilt from day one. 15 years ago.
And that's the only fact we can point them out.
Today, the Portuguese Judicial Police has only one defendant in this case. His name is Christian Bruckner and he had traces of Madeleine in the caravan he was wearing at the time.
Intellectual honesty demands that all who have been convinced by a outdated false theory see reality.
Too bad they stand still in time.
Like the thousands who believe Elvis Presley didn't die or that the man didn't go to the moon.
I do not tell you this for any reason other than my duty of intellectual honesty.
The truth doesn't always please us. But if it's the one that exists, it's the only one we should report.


190 comments so far:
https://www.facebook.com/sandrafelgueiras.oficial/posts/530933058598748

"His name is Christian Bruckner and he had traces of Madeleine in the caravan he was wearing at the time."  

I didn't know a lab could confirm cadaver odour, is this true?

Dogs don't lie.

Sandra Felgueiras wrote:I do not tell you this for any reason other than my duty of intellectual honesty.
The truth doesn't always please us. But if it's the one that exists, it's the only one we should report.