A case of unrelated sex offences against the prime suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann was dismissed by a German court on Thursday because it did not have jurisdiction to try him.
Prosecutors at the regional tribunal in Brunswick, north Germany, said they were “not competent” to hear the case against the man, because his “last known address” in Germany was in another state, Saxony-Anhalt.
The suspect, identified only as Christian B, is already serving a prison sentence on another conviction and will stay behind bars despite the lifting of the Brunswick arrest warrant, the court said.
Despite the court's decision, the Brunswick prosecutor's office said it would continue investigations related to the McCann case.
Prosecutors would also “carefully examine the reasons” given by the court and “probably” make the decision to appeal, spokesman Christian Wolters added.
The Brunswick prosecutor's office would otherwise continue to assume the McCann case fell under its jurisdiction “until a decision is made” on an appeal, Mr Wolters said.
But defence lawyer Friedrich Fuelscher argued that “on the basis of the court's decision, the Brunswick justice system is also not competent in the 'Maddie' case”.
Prosecutors in Brunswick had charged Christian B in October last year with three counts of rape and two sexual offences against children — unrelated to Madeleine — between December 28, 2000, and June 11, 2017, in Portugal.
The Madeleine McCann case — in pictures
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Kate and Gerry McCann display a poster of their missing daughter Madeleine at a press conference in June 2007, a month after she disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal. All photos: Getty Images -
An aerial view of the resort and surrounding area where Madeleine McCann went missing in Praia da Luz. -
British tourists look down a well while searching for Madeleine McCann in wasteland in May 2007. -
Everton fans hold a banner appealing for the safe return of Madeleine McCann before a Premier League match in May 2007. She was a supporter of the club. -
Kate McCann sits on board a private jet owned by Sir Philip Green bound for Rome and an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, at Faro Airport, Portugal in May 2007. -
A mother and her children show their support for the missing girl in Rothley, the McCanns' town, in May 2007. -
An appeal is displayed on the scoreboard at the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in May 2007. -
Kate and Gerry McCann hold an outfit, similar to the one Madeleine was wearing on the day she went missing, at a press conference in June 2007 in Berlin. -
Pupils at Bankhead Primary School release yellow balloons for Madeleine McCann in June 2007 in Glasgow, Scotland. About 400 were released, each with a tag attached containing appeal information. -
Kate McCann listens to her husband Gerry speak during a press conference in June 2007 in Madrid, Spain. -
Gerry and Kate McCann leave a hotel on route to an interview with television crews in August 2007 in Praia da Luz. -
Kate and Gerry McCann arrive back in the UK from Faro in September 2007. The McCanns had been made formal suspects in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine. -
Kate and Gerry McCann speak in front of an age-progressed police image of their daughter during a news conference to mark the fifth anniversary of her disappearance, in May 2012 in London. -
Luis Mota Carmo (L), head of the Policia Judiciaria in the Algarve, speaks to British Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood as scrubland in in Praia da Luz is searched, in June 2014. -
Police search scrubland in June 2014 in Praia da Luz. -
British detectives arrive at Faro Police Station in December 2014 in Portugal, to observe questionings by Portuguese police of 11 people as part of the investigation into the disappearance. -
Robert Murat and his wife Michaela Walczuch leave Faro's Police Station after being interviewed as witnesses in December 2014 in Faro. -
Kate and Gerry McCann are interviewed by the BBC in April 2017. -
A police officer erects fencing around an allotment that belonged to Christian Brueckner, who was named as the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, in July 2020 in Hannover, Germany. -
Police dig at the allotment in Hannover in July 2020.
Prosecutors in other regions of Germany where the suspect lived must now decide whether to pursue the charges and stake a claim to jurisdiction.
Christian B is seen as the main suspect in the disappearance of the then three-year-old Madeleine from an apartment complex in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007.
Madeleine went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz a few days before her fourth birthday, as her parents dined with friends at a nearby tapas bar.
Despite a huge international manhunt, no trace of her has been found and no one has been charged over her disappearance.
In June 2020, German prosecutors made the stunning revelation that they were investigating Christian B in connection with the case, saying they had “concrete evidence” that he killed Madeleine.
According to German police, Christian B lived in the Algarve region of Portugal between 1995 and 2007.
He is currently serving a seven-year sentence in Oldenburg, northern Germany, for raping a 72-year-old US tourist in Praia da Luz in 2005.
