Madeleine McCann Main Suspect Christian Brueckner Loses Appeal for Release

The main suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has lost his appeal at the European court of justice for his release.

A future ruling by the Luxembourg court’s senior judges and Germany’s Supreme Court is now regarded as a formality and would mean Brueckner, 43, serves a seven-year term for raping a pensioner in Praia da Luz Portugal in 2005.

The advisory by advocate general Michal Bobek means Brueckner, who is in jail for drug trafficking but was due for release in January, now faces staying there until at least 2024. Detectives involved in the case were worried that he would disappear as soon as he won his freedom.

The former ‘mechanic’ appealed against his rape conviction last December. He argued he should not have stood trial because he was extradited from Portugal in 2017 for another offence – sexual abuse of a minor. But Bobek advised this was irrelevant as Brueckner left Germany while on probation in 2018.

He was arrested in Italy and extradited again under a fresh European warrant for drug trafficking. The search for hard evidence in the case continues as police are now looking at digging up another piece of land in Germany where the jailed paedophile had allegedly lived.