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AN EIGHT-year-old boy has been discovered being raised by a pack of dogs in a filthy hut and unable to talk.
The neglected youngster, from northern Thailand, could only communicate through barks after being abandoned by his drug-addicted f…
MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian Brueckner could face three extra months behind bars after the woman who paid his fine asked for her money back.
The mystery donor – an ex-cop who investigated the suspect – settled a £1,300 outstanding court fine allowing Brueckner, 48, to walk free in September.
Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007, while on holiday with her family in Praia da Luz in Portugal[/caption]
Christian Brueckner is believed to be the lead suspect in the girl’s disappearance[/caption]
Officials recently went on a renewed search for DNA evidence in Portugal[/caption]
But the former German FBI agent has now emailed prosecutors pleading she has made a “mistake” – and begged for the funds to be returned to her.
Officials are taking the request seriously and were last night looking at how the funds could be sent back.
Watch The Sun’s exclusive documentary on the Maddie case here
If they succeed it would secure crucial extra time for McCann investigators before their prime suspect walks free.
Reports in Germany said: “In an email to the Braunschweig Public Prosecutor’s Office, the former BKA employee is now demanding repayment of the money.
“She stated that she was unaware that Christian B. had been convicted in previous cases, including forgery.”
The ex-cop is said to have told officials: “I therefore wish to contest my declaration of intent to repay the payment and invalidate the legal transaction accordingly.”
The payment cleared a 2016 Helmstedt District Court fine for drunkenness in traffic and forgery of documents and a 2017 Braunschweig court levy for assault.
Before the ex-cop paid the fine, convicted paedophile Breuckner had only been able to pay £210 of the total and faced being kept behind bars until late January.
The fine-payer insists she had “never had personal contact with Christian B.”
Maddie prosecutors said it was investigating “the extent to which the payment received in the criminal case against Christian B. can actually be credited toward the fine imposed there.”
It stated that it had found evidence “that the payment was made by mistake.”
Brueckner will now walk free when his sentence for raping an American woman, 72, in Praia da Luz, in 2005, ends.
He has been named publicly as the prime suspect over the May 3 2007 disappearance of Maddie, of Rothley, Leics., since 2020 but never been charged.
He has used letters to deny the claims but has refused to answer police questions or provide an alibi.
His phone was in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine vanished and made a 30-minute call from the area.
His Jaguar was re-registered into a name the day after the disappearance.
A Sun investigation this year revealed bombshell new evidence – including Brueckner’s obsession with snatching and abusing small, young, blonde girls.
Brueckner appeared in court earlier this year over verbal assaults on prison guards[/caption]
Maddie has now been missing for 18 years[/caption]
The search last week was focused on a handful of derelict building[/caption]
We also placed him at key police locations of interest, including a lake where cops dug for evidence.
And we showed evidence he was at the scene of an al-but-confession when he allegedly said Maddie “did not scream,” in 2008.
Our probe – aired on Channel 4 – revealed the existence of a hard-drive and laptop containing crucial picture evidence on the case.
Police maintain they have physical evidence Maddie is dead – but no forensic links.
German police have recently stressed the value UK authorities could provide by getting involved in the case again before Brueckner’s release.
He has refused to rule out leaving Germany and insisted he will go to ground on his release.
If he travelled to a non-extradition country all hopes for McCann justice could disappear with him.
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.
September 17, 2025
Date on which Christian Brueckner will be released from custody without action being taken.
Prosecutors require an arrest warrant for a retrial over claims from last year – or over the McCann case.
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.
A BRITISH tourist and her friend from New Zealand have been killed by an elephant while on a walking safari in Zambia today, cops said.
The victims were tragically attacked by a female elephant that was a calf at South Luangwa National Par…
MULTIPLE people are injured after a knifeman went on a rampage and stabbed shoppers.
Customers were targeted at the Ratina shopping centre in the Finnish city of Tampere earlier today.
AFPBlood stains the pavement outside the Ratina sho…
AT least four people have been injured after a man with an axe and hammer attacked passengers inside a packed moving train in Germany.
Cops said the attack took place in an Intercity Express (ICE) train headed to Vienna.
WikipediaMan …
A BRIT has been jailed for 21 years in Thailand for human trafficking and prostitution offences.
William Reece Bilton, 33, was the manager of a night spot in notorious resort Pattaya called the Flirt bar.
Andrew DrummondWilliam Reece Bi…
Inspector finds force has made ‘significant improvements’ in how it treats victims of sexual exploitationGreater Manchester police are investigating more than 1,000 grooming gang suspects, as a new report found the force was “trying to provide a better…
FoI requests also reveal that since 2019 less than 3% of those held under law in London were prosecutedPolice in London have been accused of abusing their powers to curb protest after research found that less than 3% of arrests for conspiracy to cause …
THIS is the moment a thief dubbed “Goodnight Cinderella” is arrested for luring flirtatious tourists before drugging and robbing them of £13,000.
Francini Demétrio Sit…
A BRITISH gang threatened to behead drug mule suspect Bella Culley and her family in a chilling warning to the pregnant 18-year-old.
Bella was shown a horrifying video of an execution by the evil traffickers which forced the teen to send her loved ones a two-word SOS text, her lawyer has claimed.
Bella Culley seen in court on Tuesday as her devastated family watched on[/caption]
The Brit told a court she was made to watch a beheading video by a Brit gang who recruited her to smuggle drugs[/caption]
Bella, seen in court earlier this year, has now been jailed for over six weeks[/caption]
The Brit told her legal team that she fell into the clutches of a British-led gang of drug runners while on holiday in Thailand.
She denies knowingly importing drugs worth £200,000 into the former Soviet state of Georgia as she continues to claim she was in fear of life when she flew from Bangkok in May.
Trainee nurse Bella – who got pregnant on her Far East trip – claimed the gang also threatened to harm her parents and 16-year-old brother after claiming they knew where they lived.
In a desperate two word plea she texted her family, “HELP ME”, after being “branded” on the arm with an iron as a warning.
Bella from Billingham, County Durham, says a bag containing cannabis was checked in under her name by a gang member.
Her frantic family launched a missing person hunt in Thailand after she vanished on holiday but she turned up under arrest 4,000 miles away.
Her Georgian lawyer Malkhaz Salakaia claimed the gang terrorised the teenager into becoming a mule.
She felt queasy and almost fainted but they still forced her to watch it
Malkhaz Salakaia
He told The Sun: “They told her: ‘We know the addresses of your parents, we know where your 16 year old brother is.’
“They made her watch a video of a man being decapitated and told her: ‘If you don’t do as you are told, this is what is going to happen to you and your family.’
“She felt queasy and almost fainted but they still forced her to watch it.”
Bella – who wept in court on Monday as she appeared with her baby bump visible for the first time – has stressed the British father of her child was not a gang member.
And she went on to describe the horror of her “branding” to Mr Salakaia.
He told The Sun: “On the inside of her right arm there is a mark from this coercion.
“She was, so to say, branded – a hot iron was pressed on her arm.
“She was forced to do this – there was both psychological and physical pressure, the trace of which is still visible.
“As to her connection with this group, she knew several of them – they are British.
“At first she knew one, and then through him met the others. However, we have grounds to assume that this group also had local accomplices, including in Thailand.”
Mr Salakaia said by the time Bella managed to send a desperate text to her family, it was too late for them to stop her disastrous journey to Georgia.
Bella Culley went on holiday to Thailand and wound up in handcuffs in Eastern Europe[/caption]
Cannabis was found wrapped in air-tight bags in Bella’s luggage, police said[/caption]
Mr Salakaia said: “Bella sent an SMS to her family asking for help, saying: HELP ME, but by the time the family reacted it was too late
“The instruction, or rather threat, she was given consisted of the following: ‘You will take this luggage and carry it from point A to point B, to this or that country, or we will kill you.
“There is no talk of any potential reward or deal — Bella was simply forced to do this.
“The speculation that one of them is the father of Bella’s child does not correspond to the truth – I categorically deny this. There is no connection.
“I cannot say whether the father of the child knows about Bella’s situation.”
Mr Salakaia told how Bella tried in vain to raise the alarm – but discovered to her horror that Thai cops she tried to tip off were linked to the gang.
He said: “There was a very alarming episode while she was still in Bangkok. Bella seized a moment to go to some policemen – there were three of them, standing on the street.
“She told them: ‘I have a problem, this is happening, there is pressure on me, help me.’
“They spoke with her for 20 minutes and then returned her exactly to the same people she had run away from.
“This allows the simplest conclusion – that this group had things arranged with the local police.”
She was forced to do this – there was both psychological and physical pressure, the trace of which is still visible
Malkhaz Salakaia
Mr Salakaia said Bella did not see the suitcase containing 31lb of cannabis in vacuum-sealed bags until a customs officer in Georgian capital Tbilisi showed it to her.
The teenager had no idea where Tbilisi was and no idea why she was there, he said.
Bella, in a pink t-shirt with her hair in a bun, burst into tears at a court appearance on Monday where she was supported by her father Niel (ckd), 39, aunt Kerrie and grandad William Culley.
Mr Salakaia said Bella – who was refused bail on Monday – will deny drug trafficking charges which carry a minimum sentence of 15 years in jail.
Bella – who says she is happy with conditions at tough No5 Women’s Penitentiary on the outskirts of Tbilisi – is next due in court on July 10.
Bella in court last month[/caption]
Bella has said she never touched the drugs found in her suitcase[/caption]