MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian Brueckner has today been sensationally cleared of a string of rapes – meaning he could be freed in just months.
The paedophile – who is suspected of snatching three-year-old Maddie in 2007 – had been on trial in Germany for horrific sex attacks.
Dan CharityChristian Brueckner had been on trial for horrific sex attacks[/caption]
GettyHe could now walk free from prison in months[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationMadeleine McCann vanished in 2007[/caption]
AFPThe Portugal apartment Maddie was taken from in 2007[/caption]
But the not guilty decision represents a possible blow to the McCann case.
It means a seven-year sentence from 2019 is now all that is keeping Brueckner behind bars.
Brueckner was today found not guilty of two counts of rape and two counts of indecent exposure.
Panicked prosecutors are already planning to mount an appeal in a bid to keep the monster behind bars.
But without a retrial – or charges finally being brought over Maddie – rapist Brueckner could be back on the streets on day release within just weeks.
Worryingly, the trial has also seen the credibility of key witnesses from the McCann case shot down in court by Brueckner’s lawyers, in a further blow.
However, Maddie cops have said the verdict will not impact their investigation into the snatched three-year-old.
Judge Ute Engemann handed down the verdict at Braunschweig Regional Court.
Engemann said: “On this case I announce a full acquittal.”
The judge told the court key Maddie suspect Helge B had been “inconsistent” with his accounts in court.
She said they had not matched statements he had given police.
The judge added: “The media had reported already about Madeleine McCann and this influenced the witnesses.
“In that case it was not possible to convict the defendant for objective reasons.”
She said the witnesses had not been persuasive and had failed to remember all details.
A third count of rape had already been discontinued earlier in the trial.
Prosecutors have been preparing an appeal since July when a judge lifted the arrest warrant for Brueckner on the case – citing growing belief he may not be guilty.
Investigators are said to be furious with the way the court has approached the case and will ask Germany’s supreme court to send it for a retrial.
Without a new warrant – or Maddie or further charges being brought against him – he could be free from next September, in less than a year.
Madeleine McCann’s disappearance
MADELEINE McCann vanished on May 3, 2007 – and cops believe Brueckner could have been behind her disappearance.
Almost 17 years on, no one has been charged in connection. These are the key dates
May 3, 2007 – Kate McCann finds Madeleine missing at 10pm
May 14, 2007 – Property developer Robert Murat is named an “arguido” or formal suspect
August 31, 2007 – The McCanns launch libel action against Tal e Qual – a newspaper that claimed the couple killed Madeleine
September 7, 2007 – Kate and Gerry McCann are made “arguidos”
September 9, 2007– Madeleine’s parents return to England with their two-year-old twins
October 2, 2007– Lead detective Goncalo Amaral is taken off the case after criticising British police in a newspaper interview
July 21, 2009 – Portuguese police lift the “arguido” status of both Robert Murat and the McCanns
May 12, 2011 – On Madeleine’s eighth birthday, Scotland Yard launches a review into the case
April 25, 2012 – Scotland Yard officers say they believe Madeleine McCann is still alive
July 4, 2013 – Two years into a review of the case, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance
October 24, 2013– Portuguese police reopen their case after new lines of inquiry are found
November 27, 2013 – Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for British and Portuguese police to work together
October 28, 2015 – Scotland Yard reduces the number of officers working on Madeleine’s disappearance
March 11, 2017 – The Home Office grants Operation Grange an extra £85,000 to continue from April until September
September 28, 2017 – British police are granted £154,000 to keep the probe going until March 2018
November 2017 – Cops moved the search to Bulgaria
May 2018 – Another round of funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
September 2018 – An extra six months of funding is requested from the Home Office
November 2018 – More funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
November 2018 – UK police re-examine a theory Madeleine left the apartment to look for her parents
June 2019 – Another round of funding, believed to be £300,000 of government cash is granted
June 2019 – Portuguese police are probing a “new clue and suspect” after talks with British officers
June 2020 – New prime suspect revealed as a German paedo Christian Brueckner
April 2022 – Brueckner formally made an “arguido”
May 2023 – Police search remote Algarve reservoir Brueckner called his “little paradise”
In all likelihood, Brueckner could be back on the streets before then as part of a day-release programme to prepare him for freedom.
This is despite psychiatrists rating him in the “top league of dangerousness” and prosecutors asking for a preventative detention order, had he been convicted.
During the trial Brueckner was accused of breaking into a groundfloor flat in Portugal – like the McCann’s – to abuse Irish Hazel Behan.
He was cleared of terrifying her he would “cut off her head”.
A masked sicko, now ruled not to have been Brueckner, raped the holiday rep at knifepoint while filming her, then asked: “You are afraid of me aren’t you?”
When she lied and said “no” he whipped the helpless holiday rep then chillingly demanded: “Are you afraid of me now?”
The defence claimed Hazel could not have known her attacker was Brueckner, as he was wearing a mask.
They claimed she wrongly identified him after seeing Maddie coverage.
Brueckner was also cleared of raping a woman aged up to 80 and hitting her with a whip, while filming, in Praia de Luz, the village Madeleine disappeared from.
He was also cleared of grabbing the wrist of a child on a beach and performing a sex act on himself, only six miles from Praia, just weeks before Maddie vanished.
He was cleared of performed a sex act on himself in front of a child on a park-swing years later in the same region.
The defence argued none of the witnesses could be relied upon.
Christian Brueckner was charged with one count of rape, one count of rape and sex assault, one count of child molestation and indecent exposure and one count of public exhibitionism and indecency.
He was also charged with insulting behaviour and threats towards a prison guard.
The defendant denied all the charges against him.
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