A German man has been officially identified as a suspect in the disappearance of Britain’s young child Madeleine McCann 15 years ago, Portuguese prosecutors said.
Christian Bruckner, a convicted rapist, has been turned into an “arguido”, translated as “named suspect” or “official suspect”, who is treated by the Portuguese police as more than a witness, but has not been arrested or charged.
The German’s lawyer said his client was not charged in the case.
Prosecutors in Faro did not publicly disclose the man’s name, but said in a statement that he had been identified as a suspect by German authorities at their request.
The time of the transfer may be linked to Portugal’s 15-year statute of limitations for offenses punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years or more. Madeleine disappeared on May 3, 2007, while on vacation with her parents in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
This is the first time Portuguese prosecutors have identified an official suspect in the case since Kate and Gary McCann, Madeleine’s parents, were declared suspects in 2007. They were later admitted.
Prosecutors said the investigation was carried out in co-operation with British and German authorities.
Developments could allow Bruckner to be extradited to Portugal for formal questioning.
The German newspaper Bild reported that his lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher, said the Portuguese decision appeared to be a “procedural trick”.
German police said in June 2020 that Madeleine was presumed dead and that Bruckner, 44, was probably responsible. However, British officers continue to treat him as a missing person, and her parents “still hope” that Madeleine is alive.
He is currently serving a sentence in Oldenburg Prison, northern Germany, for raping a woman in 2005 in the same area of Portugal’s Algarve region where Madeleine disappeared.
Bruckner, nicknamed Christian B in Germany because of the country’s strict privacy laws, was found guilty in 2019 of raping a 72-year-old American woman and sentenced to seven years in prison.
A federal court in Karlsruhe, southwest Germany, dismissed an appeal against the November 2020 verdict.
Bruckner has denied involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine, who disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment a few days before her fourth birthday as her parents dined with friends at a nearby tapas bar. Its disappearance in Praia da Luz has sparked one of the biggest searches of its kind in recent years.
Next month will mark the 15th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance.
Bruckner lived in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007 and robbed hotels and holiday apartments, according to court documents seen by Reuters in 2020. He also forged passports and was caught stealing diesel from a Portuguese port. Police are also investigating whether he has links to other disappearances of children in the area.
Portuguese judicial police handed over documents with hundreds of names related to Madeleine’s case, including Bruckner, to British authorities in 2012. German police received their first signal linking the convicted rapist to Madeleine’s 2013 case.
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