The German lawyer in charge of the case said that he was “sure” that Christian Bruckner had “killed” Madeleine McCann (Photos: PA)
Prosecutors have admitted that it is “possible” that Madeleine McCann was killed after she was abducted and sold to a child trafficking gang.
Hans Christian Walters, the German lawyer who is overseeing the criminal investigation into her disappearance, made the revelation during an interview broadcast on Portuguese television.
Convicted sex offender Christian Bruckner was named a suspect in the Portuguese police case last month and has been under investigation by German officials for two years.
They were suing him at the time, but Mr Walters acknowledged that Bruckner would not be charged in the near future – although he announced this week that his team had found “new evidence”.
The prosecutor told reporter Sandra Felgeiras in an interview shown Friday: “We are sure he is Madeleine McCann’s killer.”
But his answers to other questions have sparked new speculation as to whether the former tramp may have had an accomplice or whether the young man may have been “sold” before being killed.
Asked if he was sure Bruckner had kidnapped Madeleine and killed her, Mr Walters simply said: “We are sure he killed Madeleine McCann.”
Madeleine was three years old when she disappeared on May 3, 2007, while on holiday in Portugal (Photo: PA) Christian Bruckner has been under investigation by German officials for two years (Photo: Rex / Shutterstock)
He then admitted that he “did not know” whether Madeleine could have been abducted by anyone without any help or inside information about McCann’s holiday movements, adding: “I can only say that we currently have a suspicious person and that is Christian B.
“There is no other person suspicious of us.”
But he later admitted that there was a possibility that the young man would be “sold”.
After initially insisting, “I’m not allowed to talk about these details,” he added when he was pressed a second time, “Maybe it’s possible.”
German prosecutor Hans Christian Walters (Photo: AP)
Five years ago, former Scotland Yard officer Colin Sutton suggested that “kidnapping” was the most likely and plausible scenario for Madeleine’s disappearance.
Speculations that a gang of child traffickers is behind the unsolved crime have never turned into hard evidence.
Madeleine was three years old when she disappeared on May 3, 2007, while on vacation in Portugal.
Bruckner, who was identified as a murder suspect by German prosecutors in June 2020, reportedly denied any involvement in the case and has not been charged.
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