The main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has called for the prosecutor, who has accused him of the three-year-old’s murder in 2007, to “stop this witch hunt” against him.
German national Christian Brueckner made the trip to speak to prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, days after being released from prison where he served a seven-year rape sentence. As part of his release, Brueckner has had to surrender his passport and be fitted with an ankle tag.
The 49-year-old suspect told Sky News he wanted the prosecutor to give him his “life back” and that he still did not “feel free”.
He told the broadcaster the prosecutor refused to meet him.
“The prosecutor refused to meet me, but I told his representative I wanted his help to get my life back,” Brueckner said.
“I’m being hounded by the media, and it’s his fault. I want him to take responsibility. I was told there was nothing they could do to help. I had been convicted and released, and I wasn’t their responsibility.”
Mr Wolters had stated publicly that he had evidence to show that Brueckner had killed Madeleine after she went missing in Portugal in 2007.
Brueckner is angry that he is the only suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, yet he had never been arrested, questioned or charged.
However, when the broadcasters asked if he killed Madeleine, he said: “My defence lawyers have told me to say nothing on the topic and unfortunately I have to abide by that.”
Scotland Yard police are flying to Germany to meet their German counterparts who are leading the investigation.
The Metropolitan Police said the 49-year-old remains a suspect in its own investigation – with Portuguese and German authorities also investigating Madeleine’s disappearance.
Met police chief Sir Mark Rowley said the British investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine remains a missing person inquiry. He told journalists that the force is “taking stock” of the German and Portuguese investigations now that the prime suspect, Brueckner, has walked free from prison.
“He remains a suspect for us. We are taking stock of where we are, and the German investigation and the Portuguese investigation,” Sir Mark said.
In 2023, investigators carried out searches near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz.
Brueckner spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017 and had photographs and videos of himself near the reservoir.
In October last year, the suspect was cleared by a German court of unrelated sexual offences, alleged to have taken place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
