Daily Mail
· collected 2026-09-20 · by Rainer-josef Burkard, Abul Taher
Christian Brueckner, a convicted rapist and pedophile who is the main suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance, told The Mail on Sunday that he was just 150 yards from her holiday apartment when she vanished in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007. He claimed to have been selling drugs near the beach at the time and said police stopped his van three times without searching it as they searched for Madeleine. Brueckner, who has two convictions for rape, was named a top suspect by German prosecutors in 2020 due to evidence linking him to the area on the night of her disappearance but lacks sufficient proof for conviction.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-20,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
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The prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has admitted he was just 150 yards from her holiday apartment on the night she disappeared.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, convicted rapist and paedophile Christian Brueckner, 49, also said he was stopped in his van three times by police later that evening while making a ‘quick getaway’, but was waved through without being searched.
asserted
he → see → getaway
Until now, the German national, who denies involvement in the three-year-old’s disappearance, has refused to discuss his whereabouts when she vanished from her family’s apartment at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007.
uncertain
she → deny → May
At the time, her parents Gerry and Kate McCann were dining with friends 100 yards away.
asserted
parents → din → friends
Brueckner told the MoS: ‘I was on the beach, not far from Maddie’s hotel, selling drugs.
asserted
I → tell → drugs
I’d been in Spain and smuggled the weed into Portugal.’
asserted
I → smuggle → Portugal
‘I was even stopped by police three times on the street [in Praia da Luz] while they were looking for Maddie,’ he added.
asserted
he → stop → Maddie
‘Luckily, they didn’t find the drugs.
asserted
they → find → drugs
‘I was making a quick getaway; there were flashing blue lights and checkpoints everywhere.
asserted
I → make → getaway
I just thought, “Get me out of here”.’
asserted
I → think → me
Explaining his silence on the matter until now, Brueckner said: ‘I’ve kept quiet because the police want to frame me for the Maddie thing.’
asserted
police → explain → thing
Convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, has claimed he was just 150 yards from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the night she disappeared in 2007
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Brueckner said he had been on the beach selling cannabis and claimed police stopped his van three times that evening as they searched for Madeleine, but did not search the vehicle
Last night, a source close to the McCann family said: ‘If what he [Brueckner] says is true, it obviously begs the question of what might have been if the Portuguese police had not let him slip through their fingers.’
At the time of Madeleine’s disappearance, police in Portugal were criticised for their lack of urgency and not taking her abduction seriously.
uncertain
police → convict → abduction
In 2020, Brueckner was named as the top suspect in the case by German prosecutors.
asserted
Brueckner → name → prosecutors
They said they had ‘concrete evidence’ against him but not enough to secure a conviction.
asserted
they → say → conviction
In 2007, Brueckner was regularly spending time in Portugal and a mobile phone registered to his name was traced close to the McCanns’ accommodation on the evening Madeleine vanished.
asserted
Madeleine → spend → evening
Metropolitan Police detectives are trying to bring Brueckner to Britain to stand trial for her abduction and murder.
asserted
detectives → try → abduction
He has two convictions for rape and been found guilty of crimes including theft, drug trafficking, assault and sexual abuse of children.
asserted
He → have → children
Brueckner was released from prison in Germany in September last year after serving six years for the rape of a 72-year-old US tourist.
asserted
Brueckner → release → tourist
He was then placed on round-the-clock surveillance.
asserted
He → place → surveillance
In a separate development, it has emerged that Brueckner is being investigated over an alleged sex attack on a girl of nine in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, in 2015.
asserted
Brueckner → emerge → 2015
Whether his admissions about the night of Madeleine’s abduction hasten moves to extradite him to the UK remains to be seen.
asserted
hasten → hasten → UK
Yesterday, the Met said a dedicated team was continuing to examine the case and remained in close working discussion with police colleagues in Germany and Portugal.
asserted
team → say → Germany
Brueckner, who denies any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance, said he had been trying to leave the area as police checkpoints were set up
asserted
checkpoints → deny → area
The Metropolitan Police continue to investigate the case alongside German and Portuguese authorities
A spokesman added: ‘We will continue to pursue any viable lines of enquiry.’
asserted
We → continue → enquiry
In 2020, German prosecutor Christian Wolters said Brueckner’s Portuguese phone received a call from another Portuguese number at 7.32pm on the evening that Madeleine disappeared.
asserted
Madeleine → say → evening
He said the call, which lasted 30 minutes, was significant.
asserted
which → say → ?
It was later discovered that it was from Diogo Silva, of Portugal.
asserted
it → discover → Portugal
But in his interview with the MoS, Brueckner stonewalled questions about this call, saying he could not remember whether he had ever used the mobile number released by German police.
uncertain
he → stonewall → police
He also denied knowing Silva.
asserted
He → deny → Silva
On the morning after Madeleine disappeared, Brueckner re-registered the Jaguar XJR-6 car he owned in Germany to a friend’s name.
asserted
he → disappear → name
As for a VW camper van, which he sometimes used to live in, Brueckner sold it to a car dealer, identified as Peter W, in Regensburg, Bavaria, for £5,000 in 2015.
asserted
Brueckner → use → 2015
Brueckner insisted to the MoS: ‘I have nothing to do with the little girl’s disappearance ‘I would be happy if Maddie turned up tomorrow, then everyone would immediately understand that everything against me is and was staged.
asserted
everything → insist → me
But that probably won’t happen, so I remain the prime suspect.’
asserted
I → happen → ?
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