BERLIN: German prosecutors said on Tuesday they had charged a 45-year-old German man, who is a suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, with several sexual offences they believe he committed in Portugal between Dec. 28, 2000, and June 11, 2017.
The Braunschweig prosecutor’s office said in a statement that the accused was the same person under investigation in connection with the disappearance of the then 3-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann in Portugal in 2007.
“Specifically, the accused is charged with three offences of aggravated rape and two offences of sexual abuse of children,“ the prosecutor’s office added.
“The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann continues,“ the office added. “In view of the ongoing investigation, it is not possible to provide any further information on the results of the investigation so far.”
The Federal Criminal Police Office and the prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig issued a fresh request to the public for assistance with the McCann case.
Convicted child abuser and drug trader Christian Brueckner, who is behind bars in Germany for raping a woman in the same area of the Algarve region of Portugal from where Madeleine went missing in 2007, was formally identified as an official suspect in the McCann case in April.
That was the first time a Portuguese prosecutor had identified a suspect in the case since Kate and Gerry McCann, Madeleine’s parents, were named suspects in 2007. They were later cleared.
Brueckner, 45, has denied involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine from her bedroom during a family holiday.
He has been behind bars in Germany since 2019 for raping and robbing a 72-year-old American woman in the Algarve. - Reuters
