The Madeleine McCann case: the prosecutor could file …

Hans Christian Wolters, the prosecutor in charge of the case Madeleine McCann, the British girl who disappeared in 2007 in Portugal, claimed to be convinced of being able to file a complaint against the main suspect, Christian Brueckner, at the beginning of 2021.

The lawyer told the BBC that while his investigative team has not yet succeeded in gathering enough evidence to indict Brueckner, the investigation has progressed to the point that charges could be laid early next year .

“If you knew the evidence that we have, you would come to the same conclusion as I did, but I cannot give you specifics because we don’t want the accused to know what we have against him,” Wolters said.

In turn, he said: “I cannot promise, I cannot guarantee that we have enough to bring a charge, but I am very confident because what we have so far does not allow for any further conclusion. “

Finally, the prosecutor explained that the difficulty for the conduct of the investigation is due to the different logistical problems posed by the case, since it is about a disappearance which lasts for 13 years and took place in another country.

How advanced is the Maddie investigation?

The main suspect, Christian Brueckner, is a 43 year old German citizen what is found serving a sentence in a German prison for drug trafficking while calling on a Seven-year sentence for rape in Praia da Luz, 18 months before Madeleine’s disappearance.

In September, German courts opened a new investigation against Brueckner into the 2004 rape of an Irish girl that took place in the Algarve, the region where Maddie McCann went missing.

German police found children’s clothing, as well as pictures and videos in Brueckner’s “secret lair”. It is a ruined old factory located in the town of Neuwegersleben, in northern Germany.

Likewise, we know that the suspect was there with his camper van in 2007, the year Madeleine disappeared. In this vehicle, a large number of girls’ swimsuits were also found, and in addition, Brueckner said he was hiding “children and drugs” there.

Police also carried out searches in a worker’s garden near Hanover, which are linked to the Maddie case investigation, according to Julia Meyer, a spokeswoman for the prosecution.

Meanwhile, German forensics backing Madeleine’s investigation have asked their Portuguese counterparts to reanalyze a DNA sample collected in 2007, as advancements in technology may provide more information on this.

Hans Christian Wolters, for his part, sent a letter to Madeleine’s parents, confirming that they have concrete evidence of her murder, although he clarifies that he cannot reveal the causes of death as it would involve hamper the investigation.

On the other hand, a former partner of Brueckner, recounted the gender violence he has exercised in various situations in the relationship and said that if Brueckner is responsible “he must be really punished for it.”

The disappearance of little McCann in the Portuguese Algarve shocked the world in May 2007 and since then investigations have been unable to clarify what happened that night when she disappeared from there hotel where she was staying with her family.