Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Bruckner is being probed on further rape and sexual abuse cases in the Algarve region where Madeleine disappeared (Image: PA)
Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Bruckner is being probed on whether he’s connected to any more rape and sexual abuse cases in the Algarve region where she disappeared.
The paedophile, 43, is suspected of sexually abusing a German youngster aged ten in April 2007 – a month before Madeleine vanished.
German officials say she was groped by a man she believes was Bruckner, who then performed a sex act.
The incident was on an Algarve beach a few kilometres from Praia da Luz – where Madeleine, three, vanished while holidaying with her family.
Police are also probing if Bruckner is responsible for “more sexual abuse and rapes” in the area after reportedly linking him to 25 burglaries.
Braunschweig public prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said: “We think he could be responsible for a crime of sexual abuse on a German child in Portugal in April 2007. We are investigating if Christian B did this. He has not been charged. He is only a suspect. We have been investigating since April 2019.
“German police asked Portuguese authorities if there had been any sexual crime in Portugal around the time Madeleine McCann disappeared and they came back with this case. It was in the same area where Madeleine was kidnapped.”
It is understood a previous probe into the case was dropped after the victim was unable to identify Bruckner from pictures.
Christian Bruckner has been linked with a further crime in the Algarve area of Portugal (Image: BILD)
But after seeing media reports about him being linked to the McCann case, she contacted police saying that she was now “99 per cent” certain it was Bruckner.
Bruckner was jailed for 15 months after abusing a youngster in a park in Braunschweig, Germany, in 2013.
He has also committed a string of other child sex offences and is currently serving time in Kiel, Germany, for drugs offences.
Police believe he was behind a string of holiday apartment raids, which could have led him to the McCanns’ flat. Mr Wolters said: “We are investigating whether he committed more crimes in Portugal.
GV of the beach in Praia da Luz, a resort in the Algarve region of Portugal where Madeleine McCann disappeared
“I’m not able to say how many cases are under investigation at the moment. But we think there could be more crime, more sexual abuse, more rapes. We are asking the Portuguese authorities to investigate whether that possibility exists.”
He added: “Christian B’s lawyer is aware of this case and has received the file. I don’t know if the police have tried to speak to Christian B about it. I can’t say at this time how close we are to charging him.”
Bruckner’s lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher, insists his client is “innocent” of any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
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