Crime

New twist in Madeleine McCann probe as Brit cops set to swoop in Germany after prime suspect Christian Brueckner freed

BRITISH Madeleine McCann cops are set to swoop in Germany to access key files and revisit witnesses.

Met officers are in the initial stages of putting a visit together.

Christian Brueckner in court in Braunschweig, Germany.
Dan Charity

Madeleine McCann cops are set to swoop in Germany following the release of prime suspect Christian Brueckner[/caption]

Madeleine McCann in a white bucket hat and pink dress.
EPA

It comes after the UK cops flew to Portugal to interview a couple who hosted Brueckner around the time Madeleine vanished[/caption]

They are stepping up their efforts after prime suspect Christian Brueckner left jail last week following a seven-year term for rape.

It comes after the UK cops flew to Portugal this month to interview a German couple who hosted Brueckner around the time Madeleine, three, vanished in Praia da Luz in 2007.

A police source in Germany, where the fiend is living in an unnamed town, said: “We’re expecting Met officers could ask to come any time now.

“They have requested all the permissions they need to look into full case files and access any translations.

“They will also have the ability to speak with all the witnesses.”

Yesterday The Sun revealed Brueckner had been bragging he can “solve the scandal of the century” despite never sharing information with police.

Brit investigators were considering speaking with shop manager Farouk Salah-Brahmin who revealed the rapist asked to buy a phone without registering it to his ID card, meaning the device would have been untraceable.

The ID card has yet to be endorsed with travel restrictions meaning he could leave German borders where his ankle tag would no longer work.

The Met’s Operation Grange declined to comment.

Brueckner has always denied involvement.

A young girl with blonde hair and heterochromia (one blue eye and one brown eye) looks directly at the camera, wearing a red velvet top.
Maddie went missing in May 2007

What are the key dates in Madeleine’s disappearance?

  • May 3, 2007 – Kate and Gerry McCann leave their children asleep in their holiday apartments while they eat eat a nearby Tapas restaurant. At 10pm Kate finds Madeleine missing.
  • May 14, 2007 – Property developer Robert Murat is quizzed by cops and named an “arguido” or formal suspect.
  • August 31, 2007 – The McCanns launch libel action against Tal e Qual – a newspaper that claimed the couple killed Madeleine.
  • September 7, 2007 – Kate and Gerry McCann are made “arguidos”.
  • September 9, 2007– Madeleine’s parents return to England with their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie.
  • October 2, 2007– Lead detective Goncalo Amaral is taken off the case after criticising British police in a newspaper interview.
  • July 21, 2009 – Portuguese police lift the “arguido” status of both Robert Murat and the McCanns, and shelve the investigation.
  • July 24, 2009 – Detective Goncalo Amaral alleges that Madeleine died in her family’s holiday flat the day she went missing in a book called The Truth Of The Lie. In a documentary for Portuguese television he claims there was no abduction and the McCanns had hidden her body.
  • May 12, 2011 – On Madeleine’s eighth birthday, Mrs McCann publishes a book about her disappearance. Scotland Yard launches a review into the case after a request from Home Secretary Theresa May, supported by Prime Minister David Cameron.
  • April 25, 2012 – Scotland Yard officers say they believe Madeleine McCann is still alive. A new picture is released, showing what she might look like as a 9-year-old, and they call on the Portuguese authorities to reopen the case, but Portuguese police say they have found no new material.
  • July 4, 2013 – Two years into a review of the case, Scotland Yard launch its own investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance. They claim to have “genuinely new” lines of inquiry and identify 38 people of interest including 12 Britons.
  • October 24, 2013– Portuguese police reopen their case after new lines of inquiry are found.
  • November 27, 2013 – Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for British and Portuguese police to work together.
  • April 28, 2015 – Detective Goncalo Amaral is ordered to pay Kate and Gerry McCann £209,000 each in damages by a court in Lisbon over claims made in The Truth Of The Lie and bans further sales of the book.
  • October 28, 2015 – Scotland Yard reduces the number of officers working on Madeleine’s disappearance from 29 to four.
  • January 31, 2017 – Portugal’s Supreme Court rules against Kate and Gerry McCann’s £418,000 libel claim. The court claims freedom of expression laws protect Detective Goncalo Amaral’s claims in the book.
  • March 11, 2017  – The Home Office grants Operation Grange an extra £85,000 to continue from April until September.
  • September 28, 2017 –  British police are granted £154,000 to keep the probe alive until March 2018.
  • November 2017 – Cops moved the search to Bulgaria as they tried to find a “woman in purple” they wanted to speak to.
  • May 2018 – Another round of funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted.
  • September 2018 – An extra six months of funding is requested from the Home Office amid fears the cash will run out by the end of the month.
  • November 2018 – More funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
  • November 2018 – Former detective David Edgar, who once helped search for Madeleine, says she could still be alive and imprisoned, with “no idea who she is”. He believes she is being kept against her identity in a “lair” and could even still be in Portugal.
  • November 2018 – UK police are re-examining a theory Madeleine left the apartment to look for her parents. They are also looking at whether her disappearance was the result of a kidnapping or burglary gone wrong.
  • June 2019 – Another round of funding, believed to be £300,000 of government cash is granted
  • June 2019 – Portuguese police are probing a “new clue and suspect” after talks with British officers, according to a bombshell local media report.
  • August 2019 – A DNA expert in the US offers to analyse samples to provide an investigative lead.
  • June 2020 – New prime suspect revealed as a German paedo, in a huge breakthrough in the 13-year investigation.
  • April 2022 – Christian Brueckner, aged 45 at the time, is officially declared a suspect by Portuguese prosecutors.
  • February 8, 2024 – Prime suspect Christian Brueckner is seen for the first time in public since 2020 being led into an ambulance to receive treatment after being attacked in prison.
  • February 26, 2024 – Christian Brueckner appeared before the court facing charges of three rapes and two sex assaults but no charges involving Maddie.

September 23, 2025
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Pro-Palestine riots break out in Italy as metal ladders are thrown into windows & protesters storm iconic train station

CHAOS erupted in Milan as pro-Palestine protesters smashed their way into the city’s iconic central train station.

Angry mobs hurled chairs and metal railings at riot police in violent clashes that left 60 officers injured.

Protesters clash with riot police at a train station.
AFP

Protesters clash with anti-riot police at Milano Centrale train station[/caption]

Protesters clash at Milano Centrale train station, with broken windows and overturned furniture.
AFP

Protesters try to break the windows at the entrance of a shopping area at Milano Centrale train station[/caption]

Policemen and protesters clash at Milan's Central Station during a protest.
EPA

Protesters and policemen clash at Milan’s Central Station during a protest as part of the nationwide strike with the slogan ‘Let’s Block Everything’ in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza[/caption]

Police wearing blue helmets with "POLIZIA" written on them face a crowd of protesters visible through a broken glass door.
AP

Protesters enter Central Station during clashes with police[/caption]

The grand marble atrium of Milano Centrale last night turned into a battleground as demonstrators waving Palestinian flags tore down barriers, rammed glass doors with metal ladders and faced off against lines of police in helmets and shields.

Tear gas filled the air as officers struggled to push back the surging crowd.

At least 10 people were arrested in the financial capital, where stunned commuters watched running street battles unfold outside one of Europe’s busiest railway hubs.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni slammed the violence, fuming: “(This was) violence and destruction that have nothing to do with solidarity and will not change the lives of people in Gaza by a fraction.

“But will have concrete consequences for Italian citizens who will end up suffering and paying for the damage caused by these hooligans.”

The mayhem was part of a nationwide strike that paralysed schools, ports, transport and public services.

From Turin to Palermo, tens of thousands took to the streets in solidarity with Palestinians under siege in Gaza.

In Rome, some 30,000 people massed outside Termini station, blocking traffic on the city’s ring road and delaying trains by more than an hour.

And in Naples, protesters forced their way onto railway tracks, while in Pisa, they barricaded a main road to Florence.

Dockworkers downed tools in Genoa, Livorno, Trieste and Venice – where police blasted crowds with water cannon.

“The Palestinian people continue to give us yet another lesson in dignity and resistance,” said Ricky, a Genoa protester from the Autonomous Port Workers’ Collective.

“We learn from them and try to do our part.”

In Milan, flags of Israel, the US, the EU and NATO were torched outside the American consulate as chants echoed through the city centre.

The Italian unrest comes amid growing international rifts over the war in Gaza.

Just hours earlier, Hamas hailed Britain’s dramatic recognition of a Palestinian state as a “victory for the justice of our cause.”

Police in riot gear confront protesters holding a Palestinian flag at Central Station in Milan, Italy.
AP

Protesters enter Central Station during clashes with police after the strike march in support of Palestine, in Milan, Italy[/caption]

Protesters entering Central Station in Milan during clashes with police, amidst shattered glass and debris.
AP

Protesters damage Milan’s Central Station during clashes with police[/caption]

A protester spray-paints "Free Gaza" and a peace sign on a window.
AP

Protesters vandalise the station with ‘Free Gaza’ messages[/caption]

Sir Keir Starmer declared the shift a pledge to “keep alive the possibility of peace and a two-state solution”.

The UK has now joined more than 150 nations, including Canada, Australia and Portugal, in recognising Palestine.

French President Emmanuel Macron has also recognised Palestine during a UN speech, matching Sir Keir Starmer’s move just a day later.

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the move as “a reward for terrorism” after Hamas’s October 7 atrocities in which 1,200 people were murdered and hundreds taken hostage.

Donald Trump echoed his fury, warning such recognition “rewards Hamas.”

A masked protester in a green and red shirt throws a bottle amidst smoke, with other protesters and cars in the background.
EPA

The violent clashes saw 60 officers injured[/caption]

People at a General Strike for Palestine in Turin, Italy, with red smoke filling the air.
Getty

People take a part during the General Strike For Palestine in Turin, Italy[/caption]

A protester wearing a Palestinian flag-colored hat that reads "I am Global Sumud Flotilla too" and speaking on the phone, while standing with other protesters outside the Roma Termini train station.
Alamy

Thousands of workers and students took to the streets of Rome in pro-Palestine protests[/caption]

But Sir Keir insisted the decision was “not a reward for Hamas,” branding the group a “brutal terror” organisation with “no future” in Gaza’s governance.

As Italy counts the cost of smashed glass, blocked ports and battered police, Meloni’s right-wing government is standing firm as one of Israel’s staunchest allies in Europe – refusing to follow the UK’s lead.

With tensions surging across the continent and Gaza’s humanitarian crisis worsening, last night’s street violence in Milan may prove a taste of more unrest to come.

What does recognising Palestine mean?

BRITAIN’S recognition means that the UK government diplomatically acknowledges Palestine as a country.

The UK had already vowed to recognise a Palestinian state as part of a broader peace process with Israel, but it was long unclear when this might happen.

It does not mean that the UK no longer recognises Israel, with which Britain has had official diplomatic relations since the 1950s.

But Palestine now joins the list of nations formally recognised by Britain, meaning its chief envoy will now have the rank of ambassador.

The conflict between Israel and Palestine stretches back many decades, and it is still unclear what the borders of a Palestinian state would look like.

The West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem are frequently described as occupied Palestinian territories.

But Israel de facto controls much of this land, and has built substantial settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Control of Palestinian territory is divided, with Hamas solely ruling over the Gaza Strip.

September 22, 2025
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Cops on high alert after Christian Brueckner tried to buy untraceable phone sparking fears he’s plotting to flee Germany

COPS in Germany are on high alert after Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner tried to buy an untraceable mobile phone — while carrying an ID card that could allow him to flee his home country.

Brueckner, 49, begged shop staff to sell him an anonymous handset without recording his official government identity, which is a legal condition there.

CCTV footage shows a man in a black hoodie buying a phone at a counter in a shop.
Fiend Christian Brueckner with a mobile phone in a shop in Germany
Dan Charity
CCTV footage of Christian Bruckner in a phone shop in Neumunster, Germany.
The now free Madeleine McCann suspect enters the phone shop
Dan Charity
CCTV footage of men transacting in a money transfer shop.
Boastful Brueckner hands over the money for his new handset
Christian Bruckner, the suspect in the Madeleine McCann disappearance, in a phone shop in Neumünster, Germany, purchasing a new mobile phone.
The Madeleine suspect sets up his smartphone in the shop
Dan Charity
Christian Brueckner arriving at court in Braunshweig, Germany.
Dan Charity

The convicted rapist was released from prison last week[/caption]

The convicted rapist was released from prison last week and a store worker instantly became suspicious by his request and refused — firing back to the rapist “I know who you are”.

He was then stunned to see Brueckner’s ID had not been updated with release conditions banning him from travelling outside Germany.

Police there have now been notified about the move and were said to be continuing to monitor the situation.

Worryingly, it also emerged flight-risk Brueckner quit the city his lawyers wanted him to stay in on his release after just one night because there were “too many police around”.

Phone shop manager Farouk Salah-Brahmin, 32, told The Sun he spoke to Brueckner for more than an hour shortly after he stepped off the train into his town.

The dad said: “He came in and said he wanted to buy a pay-as-you-go Sim card and a smartphone.

“He said he wanted to learn how to use WhatsApp because he had never used it before.

“He told me he wanted to be able to stay in touch with his lawyers.

“He produced a promotional pen for his lawyer and told me that was the only way he had to contact his legal team.

“I couldn’t believe it — his only contact in the world was a phone number on an office pen.

“It was then he really weirdly asked me if he could buy a Sim card without an identity card.

“That would mean no one could trace his calls.

“But I said, ‘No way, I know who you are’ because it’s illegal to register a phone without an ID card in Germany because then you have no idea who was using it.

“It was actually really scary that he even asked — he probably thought it would have been amazing for him to have an unregistered phone.”

One of the key pieces of evidence on Brueckner is a mobile phone record showing he was in the centre of Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance there on May 4, 2007.

In Germany, ID cards can be printed with specific stipulations such as limits on travel.

He really weirdly asked me if he could buy a Sim card without an identity card. That would mean no one could trace his calls


Farouk Salah-Brahmin

Brueckner’s identification, however, carries none of the limitations agreed to by a court — despite prosecutors insisting that it should.

Stunned Farouk added: “When he gave me his identity card, I was completely shocked because there were no travel limitations on it.

“I thought that was really strange because his release conditions were supposed to be limiting his travel abroad — but there was nothing there.

“It means right now he can get on a place or go wherever he wants because he can use his ID card like any other person.

“There were no police or officials or anyone following him.

“There was nothing to stop him at all. I couldn’t believe it.”

Madeleine McCann, a young child, wearing a pink hat, shirt, and shorts, holding tennis balls on a tennis court.
Collect

Madeleine McCann was three when she vanished while on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007[/caption]

Gerry and Kate McCann at a vigil marking the 15th anniversary of their daughter's disappearance.
Maddie’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have been searching for answers over her disappearance since 2007
a white building with a car parked in front of it
The apartment complex that Maddie disappeared from in Praia Da Luz, Portugal
Christian Brueckner, a suspect in the Madeleine McCann case.
Rapist Brueckner was living in the Algarve at the time Madeleine went missing

Brueckner spent his first night as a free man in Kiel in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein where his lawyers are based and had planned to stay there.

But he was panicked by the large police presence so boarded a train to another city nearby.

Farouk said: “Brueckner said one of his conditions was that he had to register a place to live so he could come to our town to register as homeless.

“He said he knew that meant he would get given an apartment here.

“He knew how the system works.

“But he said his lawyers had tried to take him to their home city of Kiel.

He said he wanted to go somewhere where the police wouldn’t follow him all the time, even though he asked for police protection. It was totally clear he wanted to lose the officers following him so he could do what he wanted


Farouk Salah-Brahmin

“He spent his first night as a free man there in a hotel.

“But he said he decided he couldn’t stay there because there were ‘too many police’.

“He felt like there police everywhere and he wanted to go somewhere with less police.

“He said he wanted to go somewhere where the police wouldn’t follow him all the time, even though he asked for police protection.

“It was totally clear he wanted to lose the officers following him so he could do what he wanted.”

Since being released last Wednesday it has been clear Brueckner has already repeatedly defied his lawyers’ wishes by refusing to keep a low profile.

Man in blue blazer holding documents being escorted by two blurry officers.
AFP

Brueckner was released from prison last week[/caption]

German police vehicles on a road.
Dan Charity

A police convoy took Bruckner to a safe house after his release[/caption]

A person's hand with a striped cuff holding a blue and white object inside a car, viewed through a tinted window.
Dan Charity

He covered his face with a blanket as the car sped past reporters[/caption]

Aerial view of a prison at night, with illuminated buildings inside a walled perimeter.
AFP

An aerial shot of the jail where Brueckner was caged[/caption]

As well as being snapped at the shop, he had been spotted partying at a nightclub — only 48 hours after being released — and begging for free pizzas from Domino’s in disguise.

He bragged to phone shop boss Farouk about his plans to build a new life for himself in his current city and get a permanent apartment.

Farouk said: “He said he wants to stay here and make a life because he knows the north of Germany very well.

“But everyone hates him here. No one wants him here.

He said he wants to stay here and make a life because he knows the north of Germany very well. But everyone hates him here. No one wants him here


Farouk Salah-Brahmin

“I told friends. They are scared because everyone who has children knows he’s a paedophile and a violent sex offender.”

Brueckner has been a suspect over Madeleine’s abduction and murder for German police since 2020 but never faced charges.

His lawyers have continued to insist on their client’s innocence in the McCann case.

TIMELINE OF THE MADDIE CASE

HERE’S a timeline of the case which has gripped the world.

May 3, 2007

Madeleine McCann disappears from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, sparking a massive police search and becoming one of the most famous missing persons cases in history.

January 15, 2016

Neighbour reports a possible ‘grave’ at Brueckner’s abandoned factory in East Germany.

Cops find disturbing images on USB sticks and launch a full-scale search.

February 16, 2016

Christian Brueckner is convicted for abusing a girl of five in a park after images found on his laptop.

He was sentenced to 15-months behind bars but was already on the run by then.

May 3, 2017

Around this time, Helge B calls an information hotline after watching a ten-year anniversary special on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

He reports an alleged confession by Christian Brueckner.

September 27, 2018

On-the-run Christian Brueckner is arrested over outstanding drugs claims in Italy.

He is extradited to Germany the following year.

December 16, 2019

Christian Brueckner was convicted, in Germany, for the 2005 rape of an American woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, after his DNA was matched to a hair found on her bed.

He was sentenced to seven years behind bars.

June 4, 2020

German prosecutors reveal to the world they have a suspect in custody under investigation for the abduction of Madeleine McCann.

For the first time they claim Madeleine is dead.

German media later name him as Christian B (Christian Brueckner).

June 23, 2023

In his first interview, witness Helge B alleges to German newspaper Bild that Christian Brueckner all-but-confessed the Madeleine abduction to him, by allegedly saying “she didn’t scream” as they talked about the case, at a music festival, in Spain.

February 16, 2024

Brueckner goes on trial accused of none-McCann allegations of rape and sex assault, in Braunschweig, Germany.

Prosecutors hope for a conviction to keep him behind bars permanently and lead to McCann charges.

October 8, 2024

Brueckner was acquitted of all claims.

Prosecutors launch an appeal, however. Decision pending.

June 1, 2025

Police order a renewed search for clues in Praia Da Luz on the Algarve in Portugal.

It lasts for just three days.

September 17, 2025

Christian Brueckner released from jail after serving sentence for rape and allowed to walk free.

September 22, 2025
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Freed Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner brazenly boasts he has info which can solve ‘scandal of century’

MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian Brueckner says he has information to end the “scandal of the century”.

The newly-freed rapist, 49, hinted of a dark secret as he shopped for a phone.

CCTV footage showing Christian Brueckner purchasing a mobile phone in a shop.
Dan Charity

Christian Brueckner said he could solve one of the ‘greatest mysteries ever’ as he shopped for a phone[/caption]

CCTV shows Christian Bruckner setting up a mobile phone in a shop, showing off his ankle tag.
Dan Charity

The freed sex offender plonked his foot on a phone shop counter to show off his ankle tag at one point[/caption]

Christian Brueckner buying and setting up a mobile phone at a shop in Neumuenster, Germany.
Dan Charity

The paedophile told staff he’d ‘not last long’ — because he holds dirt on people who want him killed[/caption]

His claims raise the prospect he withheld knowledge on the disappearance of Madeleine in Portugal in 2007 despite being a suspect for more than five years.

The paedophile, freed last week at the end of an unrelated rape sentence, also told staff he’d “not last long” — because he holds dirt on people who want him killed.

His phone buy has sparked fears he could try to flee his home country.

Shop manager Farouk Salah-Brahmin, 32, said: “Brueckner told me he had some information.

“I don’t know if it’s the McCann case but he said he had evidence that could bring the scandal of the century to an end.

“He said he would end all the accusations against him. He said he can bring his own solution. He said something about USB sticks.”

Brueckner had refused to answer any questions on the case while in prison, or engage with police.

It sounded to me like he was part of something wider. Something he clearly had knowledge of. Some network or something maybe


Farouk

Farouk added of their 90-minute chat: “The way he said it he must have been talking about the Madeleine McCann case. What else could he be talking about?

“It sounded to me like he was part of something wider. Something he clearly had knowledge of. Some network or something maybe.

“I thought maybe he knows other people who were involved – but it’s clear he knows far more than he had been telling the police.

“That struck me as weird – that he said he had knowledge of this but hadn’t told police. I don’t understand why he would do that.”

Brueckner spent £90 on a Xiaomi Redmi Android phone and bought a SIM using his ID card.

Farouk revealed the fiend also claimed his life was in danger.

‘Want to make him cold’

The shop boss said: “He told me that he has special information about some people, and that’s why they want to finish him.

“I don’t know if it is linked to all the USB sticks and information they found at his lair.

“Brueckner told me there are some people out there who ‘want to make him cold’.

“He told me, ‘I won’t do long here — maybe someone will murder me. He made it sound like there were people from his past – maybe from when he was a paedophile.

A man with short blonde hair looks left while standing at a counter.
Christian was freed last week at the end of an unrelated rape sentence
Farouk Salah-Brahim, a mobile phone shop owner, looking at the camera with his arms crossed.
Dan Charity

Shop manager Farouk Salah-Brahmin said: ‘Brueckner told me he had some information’[/caption]

“Maybe he had clients who are worried about being revealed.

“He was a client of someone famous? I don’t know.” Brueckner then showed off the monitoring tag.

Farouk added: “He said, ‘Look, I’m under control’ then started laughing. It was weird. He clearly finds it funny and he thinks it’s unfair.

I had no idea he was in my town before he walked in. I thought what does he want here in this area?


Farouk

“He told me his case is finished, the prison is finished and we have the GPS. He clearly wants to get on with people, win their confidence.

“But to find an tag you have to wear because you are so dangerous funny is crazy.”

Christian Brueckner eating McDonald's food, with a red car in the foreground.
BILD Fotoservice

Brueckner enjoying a McDonald’s following his release[/caption]

Brueckner spent an hour in the shop because he needed help setting up his phone and WhatsApp account.

At one point he came in munching a kebab – a day after gobbling a McDonald’s

‘Injustice’

Farouk said it was clear he was the first “real person” Brueckner had spoken to since his release.

Farouk said: “I had no idea he was in my town before he walked in. I thought what does he want here in this area? He was just carrying a backpack and a load of supermarket shopping bags.

“I admit I was afraid. It’s a dangerous guy, and I have to be careful and keep a distance. He was directly in front of me. No space, no barrier. There he was, Christian Brueckner.

“He claimed everything that happened to him was an ‘injustice’.

My colleague recognised him straight away, it was Christian Brueckner wearing a long fake beard. It was stupid. It was obviously still him


Shop worker

“He said he has nothing to do with the things he has been convicted of and accused of.

“I said to him, ‘They found your DNA in one of the victim’s bed’. And he told me, ‘Yes, but also 14 other DNA. He said it wasn’t him. He said all the claims against him had been invented.”

Madeleine McCann, a young girl with blonde hair and wide green eyes, wearing a red velvet top.
AFP

Madeleine McCann went missing on the May 3, 2007[/caption]

Christian Brueckner looking towards his lawyer during his sexual assault and rape trial.
Dan Charity

Brueckner was released last week after finishing a seven-year term for the 2005 rape and torture of an American woman[/caption]

Farouk said: “I don’t know what he’s really like. Maybe he’s playing a role, being someone he isn’t. Maybe he was lying to me. I think he has been telling people for so long he is innocent he has started to believe it.

“He speaks to you so directly and without any shame so you might believe him. I think he believes what he’s saying. But it’s not true.”

SMIRK OVER COP DONATION

By Rob Pattinson

EVIL Brueckner laughed and smirked over the German FBI agent working on his case who had paid for his early release.

Shop manager Farouk said Brueckner had read The Sun exclusive earlier this month about Rebecca K covering a £1,300 court fine he owed.

Farouk said: “Brueckner told me he saw the interview and that was the first time he’d ever seen her. He said he had never heard of this woman before.

“He said it was unbelievable, a surprise she’d paid.

“He laughed like he found it funny but it felt to me he had some more information — that he knew more about her payment than he was saying.”

Rebecca K, 39, said she felt sorry for the fiend and felt his rights were being violated.

She was part of the covert team monitoring Brueckner before a row with colleagues saw her career fizzle out.

Meanwhile, a Domino’s pizza worker said Brueckner had been into their branch twice in two days — disguised in a fake beard.

The worker said: “This guy came in and asked if we had any free pizza. He said he had just got out of jail and he was hungry.

“My colleague recognised him straight away, it was Christian Brueckner wearing a long fake beard. It was stupid. It was obviously still him.”

Brueckner has been seen twice at different kebab shops, and partying at a nightclub 48 hours after being freed from JVA Sehnde prison, near Hannover.

He was released last Wednesday after finishing a seven-year term for the 2005 rape and torture of an American woman, 72, in Portugal’s Praia da Luz — the same village Madeleine disappeared from.

While he remains German cops’ prime suspect over the disappearance and murder of Madeleine no arrest warrants exist, so there is nothing to keep him behind bars.

Investigators say they have physical evidence Madeleine is dead but no forensic proof tying Brueckner to the case.

Police have confirmed his phone was near Ocean Club, at the time when the McCanns were staying.

Witness Helge Busching claims a year later Brueckner confessed to him at a music festival, in Spain, saying “she didn’t scream”, as the pair discussed Madeleine.

Overwhelming evidence

An exclusive Sun investigation aired as a Channel 4 documentary in May revealed cops are in possession of images that help contribute to their understanding Maddie is dead.

They also seized stories where Brueckner daydreams about snatching and abusing girls.

Despite the overwhelming evidence investigators have been reluctant to charge over the case fearing the lack of forensic proof would harm their chances.

They were also spooked by a court last year clearing Brueckner of other rape and sex assaults — an acquittal which put him on the path to freedom.

Since it became clear that Brueckner would be released this month, the Met have significantly stepped up their activity on the case.

Last week we told how British detectives secretly jetted to Portugal to re-interview as witnesses a German couple he once stayed with.

It also emerged last week that investigators take seriously the prospect Madeleine was snatched to order by human traffickers, potentially with links to Belgium.

Brueckner’s lawyers continue to protest his innocence on all matters.

Defendant Christian B (center) with his lawyers Holm Putzke (left) and Friedrich Fuelscher (right) during his trial.
AFP

The beast has been seen twice at different kebab shops, and partying at a nightclub 48 hours after being freed from prison[/caption]

Madeleine McCann in an Everton Football Club shirt.
Handout

Christian denies involvement in Maddie’s disappearance[/caption]

Gerry and Kate McCann at a vigil marking the 15th anniversary of their daughter's disappearance.
Maddie’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have been searching for answers over her disappearance since 2007
a white building with a car parked in front of it
The apartment complex that Maddie disappeared from in Praia Da Luz, Portugal

TIMELINE OF THE MADDIE CASE

HERE’S a timeline of the case which has gripped the world.

May 3, 2007

Madeleine McCann disappears from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, sparking a massive police search and becoming one of the most famous missing persons cases in history.

January 15, 2016

Neighbour reports a possible ‘grave’ at Brueckner’s abandoned factory in East Germany.

Cops find disturbing images on USB sticks and launch a full-scale search.

February 16, 2016

Christian Brueckner is convicted for abusing a girl of five in a park after images found on his laptop.

He was sentenced to 15-months behind bars but was already on the run by then.

May 3, 2017

Around this time, Helge B calls an information hotline after watching a ten-year anniversary special on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

He reports an alleged confession by Christian Brueckner.

September 27, 2018

On-the-run Christian Brueckner is arrested over outstanding drugs claims in Italy.

He is extradited to Germany the following year.

December 16, 2019

Christian Brueckner was convicted, in Germany, for the 2005 rape of an American woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, after his DNA was matched to a hair found on her bed.

He was sentenced to seven years behind bars.

June 4, 2020

German prosecutors reveal to the world they have a suspect in custody under investigation for the abduction of Madeleine McCann.

For the first time they claim Madeleine is dead.

German media later name him as Christian B (Christian Brueckner).

June 23, 2023

In his first interview, witness Helge B alleges to German newspaper Bild that Christian Brueckner all-but-confessed the Madeleine abduction to him, by allegedly saying “she didn’t scream” as they talked about the case, at a music festival, in Spain.

February 16, 2024

Brueckner goes on trial accused of none-McCann allegations of rape and sex assault, in Braunschweig, Germany.

Prosecutors hope for a conviction to keep him behind bars permanently and lead to McCann charges.

October 8, 2024

Brueckner was acquitted of all claims.

Prosecutors launch an appeal, however. Decision pending.

June 1, 2025

Police order a renewed search for clues in Praia Da Luz on the Algarve in Portugal.

It lasts for just three days.

September 17, 2025

Christian Brueckner released from jail after serving sentence for rape and allowed to walk free.

September 22, 2025
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