Scotland Yard investigators have been handed a crucial dossier of police files said to contain ‘bombshell evidence’ on Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner.
German officials compiled the documents in relation to the 49–year–old paedophile, including pictures and stories linked to the case.
It comes as detectives in the country maintain they have physical – though not forensic – evidence linked to Brueckner that Madeleine is dead.
Madeleine disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, at the age of three.
Last year the Metropolitan Police stepped up their enquiries, flying to Portugal to re–interview witnesses.
A source told The Sun: ‘These developments are huge – it shows the Met’s interest in Brueckner is real. They are after him – like the Germans.’
Scotland Yard has attempted to get Brueckner into the UK to have him stand trial at the Old Bailey.
But a representative of the German government said it could not extradite criminal suspects to non–EU countries because of strict rules put in place after the end of the Second World War.
Madeleine disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, at the age of three
Scotland Yard has attempted to get Christian Brueckner (pictured) – a convicted rapist – into the UK to have him stand trial at the Old Bailey. He is seen here in court in May, 2024
Next year will mark 20 years since Madeleine’s disappearance – and she is still yet to be found (Search teams are pictured in southern Portugal in June 2025)
Brueckner was released last September from a seven–year jail sentence for rape, a crime committed in the Algarve close to Praia da Luz, where Madeleine disappeared.
Since then, he has been in hiding and living rough, with locals hounding him out from various locations he has moved to to try and start a new life.
He was ordered to wear an ankle tag so police could monitor his movements, but in November, a court ruled it should not forbid him from travelling abroad as this was ‘unconstitutional’.
Scotland Yard officers from Operation Grange – the unit set up to investigate Madeleine’s disappearance – have contacted him to ask for his cooperation, but he has always refused to speak.
In letters sent to the Daily Mail, Brueckner always denied any involvement in the disappearance, insisting he was being made a scapegoat by German authorities.
There is a large amount of circumstantial evidence linking Brueckner to the case – his mobile phone pinged close to the apartment where the three–year–old Madeleine disappeared from.
He has previous convictions for child abuse, and crucially, his name was given to both the German and British police by an informer in 2008.
They told detectives Brueckner had said a year after Madeleine vanished she ‘didn’t scream’ when she was taken.
Last week German police were criticised for losing track of the prime suspect during 24–hour surveillance.
Plans to extradite him to the UK remain a ‘long way off’ but the dossier handover may provide fresh ammunition for the Met.
A hard drive is believed to exist with picture files on it from Portugal at the time Madeleine disappeared – said to be crucial to German police’s understanding of the case.
The Met said: ‘Our investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance has been active since 2011.
‘We remain in close discussion with policing colleagues in Germany and Portugal.
‘We will continue to pursue any viable lines of enquiry.’
