Madeleine McCann: Prosecutor hits back at claims case against suspect Christian Brueckner 'set to crumble'

  • 12/01/2022

The prosecutor leading the German investigation into the disappearance and possible death of Madeleine McCann has hit back at claims his case is "set to crumble" due to the prime suspect's alibi reportedly stacking up.

A British documentary, which is yet to air, has reportedly concluded Christian Brueckner was not near the Praia da Luz apartment at the time McCann was snatched in 2007. According to a source with knowledge of the show's investigation, the German sex offender was actually 30 minutes away.

That seemed to refute allegations made by British authorities in 2020 that Brueckner's mobile number received a call in the Portugese town at the time McCann disappeared. It also led British media to exclaim the case against Brueckner, who is currently imprisoned in Germany for a raft of crimes, was "set to crumble".

However, prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters has dismissed the documentary's claims, telling the Mirror that Brueckner hasn't mentioned any alibi.  

"If I had an alibi and was accused of this, I would say it. But I have heard no such claims from Brueckner or his lawyer," he told the media outlet.

Prosecutors are yet to lay charges against Brueckner and, at least as of late last year, were yet to speak to him personally about the case. 

Wolters said last October he was 100 percent convinced Brueckner, who was living in the Praia da Luz area when McCann went missing, had killed the child and investigators had the evidence to charge him.

The prosecutors want to secure "the best body of evidence possible" and not rush into charging him as the suspect is already in prison. The evidence the German prosecutors have is currently "circumstantial", Wolters said. 

One example he gave was a recording of a phone call from Brueckner near to the Praia da Luz apartment.

Brueckner has denied being involved with McCann's vanishing, calling himself an "innocent person" in a letter obtained by German media in June last year. 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".

While British authorities continue to treat the case as a missing persons one, German investigators believe McCann is dead.