The top German prosecutor in the Madeleine McCann cases says he is "100 percent" sure that sex offender Christian Brueckner killed the young girl and expects to bring charges next year.
Brueckner was first revealed as the prime suspect in the case back in June 2020, more than 13 years after the three-year-old went missing from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, sparking one of the most followed missing persons cases in history.
While British authorities continue to treat the case as a missing persons one, German investigators - involved in the case due to Brueckner's nationality and current whereabouts - believe McCann is dead. Prosecutors have yet to lay charges against Brueckner, who is in a German prison for sex crimes, or speak to him about the case.
But in an interview with The Mirror on Saturday, prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said he was "100 percent convinced" Brueckner had killed the child.
"It is now possible that we could charge. We have that evidence now. But it’s not just about charging him. We want to charge him with the best body of evidence possible."
He said it would be "nonsense" to quickly go after charges especially when Brueckner is already in prison. The prosecutor hopes to bring charges next year.
However, he also said the evidence is only "circumstantial", with no scientific evidence about how McCann died or that links the man to the girl. Current evidence investigators have includes a "confession" by Brueckner to a friend and records of a phone call Brueckner made near the Praia da Luz apartment before McCann disappeared.
Brueckner has denied being involved with McCann's vanishing, calling himself an "innocent person" in a letter obtained by German media in June. Brueckner said the prosecutors were engaged in a "scandalous pre-denial campaign in the present against me as an innocent person" and were "not suitable for an office as a lawyer for the honest and trusting German people".
Brueckner was living in the area McCann went missing from at the time of her disappearance and has since been imprisoned for sexual contact with girls, drug crimes, and raping an elderly woman in Praia da Luz. He's also been linked to other missing children cases.