Unrelated charges against suspect in Madeleine McCann disappearance dropped

Christian Brueckner

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will not face German charges for alleged rape and sexual abuse in a separate case.

Last year, a court in the city of Braunschweig charged Christian Brueckner with five sexual offences.

But it now says it does not have jurisdiction because Brueckner last lived in a different part of Germany.

Brueckner has never been charged over Madeleine's disappearance and has denied any involvement.

In October 2022, evidence for additional allegations emerged during the McCann investigation.

Braunschweig's chief prosecutor charged Brueckner with five offences alleged to have been carried out between 2000 and 2017 in Portugal, including the rape and the sexual abuse of two children.

The five charges in full:

• At some point between 2000 and 2006: The rape of an unidentified woman aged between 70 and 80 in a holiday home in Portugal

• At some point between 2000 and 2006: The rape of a German-speaking girl believed to have been at least 14 years old in his home in Praia da Luz

• 2004: The rape of a 20-year-old Irish woman after entering her apartment in Praia da Rocha

• 2007: The sexual abuse of a 10-year-old German girl on a beach in Salema, Faro

• 2017: The sexual abuse of an 11-year-old Portuguese girl in a playground in Bartolomeu de Messines

Although the court in Braunschweig has dropped the case, it is understood Brueckner could still be charged with the same offences in a different court in Germany.

Originally the case was taken up in Braunschweig because that was the region where he was last officially registered.

But in reality, before moving to Portugal, he had been living in a caravan in the state of Saxony Anhalt.

• The Madeleine McCann case: A timeline

It is expected that prosecutors in other parts of Germany will now decide whether to pursue the charges and stake a claim to jurisdiction.

Three-year-old Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, was on holiday with her family at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, in Portugal's Algarve when she disappeared on 3 May 2007. Her whereabouts remain unknown.

Brueckner has never been charged over her disappearance.

The convicted sex offender is currently serving a seven-year sentence for rape which he committed in 2005 in Portugal.

Madeleine McCann was three when she went missing in 2007