Christian Brueckner has broken his silence in a shocking five-page letter from prison since he was made an 'official suspect' in the Madeleine McCann case.
The 45-year-old German native is currently serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in 2005 in Praia da Luz in Oldenburg jail in northern Germany.
He is also facing charges for the 2004 rape of Irish national Hazel Behan, who waived her anonymity, in Portugal and a sex assault on a 10-year-old girl at Praia da Luz just a month before the little girl's disappearance.
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In light of the furore, Brueckner has claimed that he wasn’t there at the time of McCann’s disappearance and is now "the most known bad person in the world and did nothing - well almost nothing" in a letter seen exclusively by the Daily Mail.
The criminal protested his innocence in the letter, which was sent from his prison cell to a woman whom the publication has not identified, and alleged that the authorities have no DNA evidence.
Referring to the McCann case, he wrote: "Perhaps I was a suspect after all they found out about me. Drug dealer, breaking into houses, living in cars and there was something with kids when I was 17.
"But they had not even one proof (sic) that I was involved with the McCann case. And they still don't have it.
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"I know why. Because they have no hairs or anything from Maddie what means (sic) that nobody can put anything like that into my stuff to find it.
"The idea behind that all perhaps was to make the BKA (German police) and German prosecutor famous as well known all over the world as the smartest organisation ever."
In the letter, Brueckner, who lived in the Algarve from 1995 to 2007, claimed there was 'no proof' against him and that German authorities were leaking information to portray him in a poor light.
He then alleged that the truth was being 'manipulated in an unprofessional way' so much so it was making him 'laugh'.
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McCann went missing from a holiday apartment her parents were renting on May 3, 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday.
McCann’s parents Kate and Gerry were eating dinner at a nearby tapas restaurant, situated within the holiday resort.
In 2007, the parents were made ‘arguidos’ or 'named suspects', however their status was lifted in 2008 when the Portuguese police’s investigation was archived.
In July 2020 the McCann's family lawyer Rogerio Alves warned that Portugal’s 15-year limit on prosecutions was nearing and authorities had just a short amount of time to take action.
Nearly two years on, Portuguese authorities officially named Brueckner as a suspect earlier this week so the investigation can continue.
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Friedrich Fuelscher, Brueckner’s lawyer, told The Mirror on Wednesday: "The step taken by the Portuguese authorities should not be overrated.
“Without knowing the Portuguese legal situation in detail, I assume that this measure is a procedural artifice to stop the statute of limitations threatening in a few days."
Brueckner was first named by police as a prime suspect in the case back in the summer of 2020 when it was established that phone records placed him in Praia da Luz - the Algarve region McCann went missing from - on the night of her disappearance.
That same summer, German police dug up an allotment plot once used by Brueckner and found a cellar that was part of a torn-down garden house.
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Brueckner reportedly lived at the location on the outskirts of Hanover in 2007, the same year the garden house was torn down.
Hans Christian Wolters, the head state prosecutor in Braunschweig, said in statements at the time that investigators had solid evidence that Brueckner was involved.
Topics: News, UK News, Madeleine McCann
Lisa McLoughlin