New arrest warrant for Madeleine McCann suspect as German linked to other cases

Authorities in Germany believe Christian Brueckner is behind five cases of abuse, including three against children

A picture of British girl Madeleine McCann, who disappeared from the Praia da Luz beach resort in the Algarve, at Our Lady of Fatima shrine in northern Portugal, in May 2007. AP

The main suspect in the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann in Portugal 15 years ago has had a new arrest warrant issued against him over five separate cases.

The German man, identified by media as Christian Brueckner, 45, is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for a rape he committed in Portugal in 2005.

His prison term is scheduled to end in September 2025.

In a bid to stop him being released before standing trial again, prosecutors in the northern city of Braunschweig announced last month that they had charged him in five separate cases involving sexual offences committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

The Braunschweig state court said it approved an arrest warrant on the grounds that there was “urgent reason” to believe he was behind three cases of serious rape and two of child sexual abuse.

The arrest warrant must still be approved by authorities in Italy, where he was arrested in 2018, before being extradited to Germany.

The Madeleine McCann case — in pictures

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.

The Braunschweig court has said a decision on whether to send the case to trial — a necessary step in the German legal process — is still pending.

Because of its list of other cases, the opening of any trial cannot be expected before next year, it said.

Brueckner has not been charged in the McCann case, in which he remains under investigation on suspicion of murder.

He spent many years in Portugal, including in the resort of Praia da Luz about the time of Madeleine’s disappearance there in 2007.

He has denied any involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine, who was aged 3 at time.