Madeleine McCann: Suspect first reported to German investigators in 2013 and raped US woman

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The German paedophile being investigated over Madeleine McCann’s disappearance was first linked to the case in 2013 and is in prison for raping an American woman, it has been revealed.

A senior officer from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said information was given in response to an appeal by Gerry and Kate McCann on the country’s equivalent of Crimewatch.

Christian Hoppe said it was not sufficient to trigger an investigation and “certainly not for arrest”, but police zoned in on the suspect after further details were given to the Metropolitan Police four years later.

“The information that we can gain from our investigations is increasingly leading us to believe that the suspect could be the culprit,” he added.

Scotland Yard said they started investigating the man - named in reports as Christian Brueckner - after a police appeal on the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance in 2017 resulted in “significant information”.

British investigators admitted the name was previously known as one of 600 people who were considered as potentially significant, but said he was not previously a suspect.

The BKA said the man had a criminal history including convictions for child sexual abuse and was serving a long prison sentence, but did not give further details.

But the Braunschweiger Zeitung reported that he is the same man convicted in December of raping an American woman in Portugal a year-and-a-half before Madeleine’s disappearance.

The 43-year-old was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for the violent attack on the 72-year-old victim in September 2005.

The Metropolitan Police have refused to confirm the suspect’s identity or further details of his previous convictions.

But comparisons between the man wanted over Madeleine’s disappearance and the rapist who was tried at the Regional Court of Braunschweig last year strongly indicate they are the same person.

Both men are 43, originally from Braunschweig in Lower Saxony and moved to Portugal in 1995.

Both lived near Praia da Luz, where Madeleine disappeared on 3 May 2007 from the holiday apartment rented by her parents’ at the Ocean Club resort.

Last year’s court case heard evidence describing a room with a sofa and a wooden beam, which matches photos of the new suspect’s home shown on German television.

Witnesses said the rapist drove a Jaguar. Police are seeking information on a German-registered Jaguar that was used by the suspect at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.

The BKA said the suspect had several previous convictions including for sex offences, child sexual abuse, burgling holiday apartments and hotels and drug trafficking.

The rapist has the same criminal history, and reports of his trial said he had previously been jailed in both Portugal and Germany.

He was arrested for attacking the American woman after a former friend from Portugal came forward to police revealing that he had stolen a video camera showing the assault.

The witness told the court that he stole the camera from his friend’s house in Praia da Luz in 2006 and that it showed an older woman being tied up, beaten and raped.

German police examined cold cases and found the victim’s original report of the attack, which had not been solved, and the culprit was charged in August last year.

He was convicted and sentenced in December, but German reports say his defence team have launched an appeal over issues with the evidence, extradition process and use of a European Arrest Warrant.

Germany’s Federal Court of Justice referred the case to the European Court of Justice in April.

The BKA is leading the investigation, which it is treating as a murder inquiry.

“There is reason to assume that there are other persons, apart from the suspect, who have concrete knowledge of the course of the crime and maybe also of the place where the body was left,” a statement said.

“We explicitly ask these persons to contact us and provide information.”

The Metropolitan Police said they were still treating the case as a missing person investigation, and that they had no “definitive evidence” indicating whether Madeleine is alive or dead.

“As the years go on, we are realistic about what we might be dealing with but there is always hope,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy.

“We are asking the public for help to prove or disprove whether this man was involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.”

“We retain an open mind about his involvement and we will follow the evidence wherever it may take us.”

Investigators are appealing for information on a campervan, car and mobile phone number linked to him that could be “critical” for the case.

The Operation Grange incident room can be contacted via 0207 321 9251 or operation.grange@met.police.uk.