Detectives from the Metropolitan Police are reportedly pushing for Christian Brueckner to stand trial in Britain for the abduction and murder of Madeleine McCann.
Brueckner, 48, was named as the prime suspect in the toddler’s disappearance by German police while serving a sentence for the rape of a pensioner.
However charges were never brought – and he was released last year.
Now, one of Scotland Yard’s most senior officers is leading a push to charge Brueckner by the end of the year.
The Met wants to see him stand trial at the Old Bailey and is understood to be gathering evidence to send to the Crown Prosecution Service.
But the German constitution does not allow the extradition of its citizens to countries not in the European Union – meaning the suspect’s transfer to the United Kingdom could cause a diplomatic row.
Brueckner was living just a mile away from the Praia da Luz hotel where Madeleine had been staying with her family at the time of her disappearance in 2007.
If Berlin rejects any extradition request, British officers are understood to be committed to ensuring that he faces charges in either Germany or Portugal.
Detectives from the Metropolitan Police are reportedly pushing for Christian Brueckner to stand trial in Britain for the abduction and murder of Madeleine McCann
It comes just a day after Kate and Gerry McCann were warmly welcomed by supporters and well-wishers for the informal outdoor gathering in their home village of Rothley, Leicestershire
Madeleine disappeared in May 2007 while staying at a hotel in Praia da Luz in the Algarve, Portugal
An insider at Scotland Yard told the Telegraph: ‘Next year marks 20 years since Madeleine McCann went missing. If the evidence is strong enough to extradite the prime suspect and try him here, that is what we would seek to do.
‘Clearly, there are numerous hurdles but our priority at the moment is to amass the strongest evidence we can against that prime suspect.’
Prior to the completion of Brexit, Brueckner could have been extradited to the UK without any complications.
The convicted rapist could stand trial abroad if British and German police hand over their evidence to investigators in Portugal, an EU state where his extradition could be more easily arranged.
The news comes just hours after Kate and Gerry McCann, Maddy’s parents, joined a prayer vigil in Leicestershire to mark the 19th anniversary of her disappearance.
It marked the first time that the couple had been pictured with their twins – Sean and Amelie – in public as well-wishers gathered outside the family home.
Kate and Gerry vowed in a statement posted online: ‘The search goes on to find her, to achieve some justice, to make the world that bit safer.’
Madeleine had been sleeping alone with her younger siblings on the night of her disappearance while Gerry, 57, and Kate, 58, were out dining at a tapas restaurant.
The investigation in Britain since she vanished has so far cost the taxpayer around £13.5million – with the Government approving a fresh request from Scotland Yard for a cash boost last year.
Speaking at the time, Sir Mark Rowley, the UK’s most senior policeman, confirmed that the Met were looking for a way to extradite Brueckner.
He said: ‘One of the reasons we are involved is that murder is in many situations extraterritorial and potentially a murder of a British subject can in certain circumstances be charged in the UK.
‘There’s lots of maybes, so at the moment we are taking stock with the Germans and Portuguese.’
Having served seven years behind bars in Sehnde prison, near the city of Hanover, Brueckner was released in late September 2025.
Having served seven years behind bars in Sehnde prison, near the town of Hanover, Brueckner was released in late September 2025 (He is pictured 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)
He had been named as a ‘top suspect’ in Madeleine’s disappearance in 2020 but was never charged due to a lack of evidence, prosecutors said.
Hans Christian Wolters, who led the German investigation into Brueckner, has repeatedly insisted that there is concrete evidence against the sex offender.
He said he was ‘100 per cent’ sure that Brueckner had murdered Madeleine while speaking to reporters in 2021, adding: ‘We’re confident we have the man who took and killed her. It is now possible that we could charge. We have that evidence now.
‘But it’s not just about charging him – we want to charge him with the best body of evidence possible.’
And in a statement only this week, Mr Wolters said: ‘The investigation into the Madeleine McCann case continues. Christian B remains the only suspect. I cannot say when the investigations will end or what the outcome will be.’
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Brueckner has always denied any involvement in the case.
He was born Christian Fischer in Wurzburg, Bavaria, and took the name he uses now when he and his two brothers were adopted by Brigitte and Fritz Brueckner, after their troubled mother gave them up.
At the age of 15, whilst living with his adoptive parents who were physically abusive, he was convicted of his first crime – a burglary.
In 1994, two years after his conviction, Brueckner’s adoptive parents put him in a children’s home after Fritz was left seriously injured in an accident.
It was while there that he was found guilty of his first sex offence, abusing a child in the home when he was 17.
Before being caught, he went on to sexually abuse a nine-year-old.
He was sentenced to two years in prison for ‘sexual abuse of a child, attempted sexual abuse of a child and performing sexual acts in front of a child.’
But shortly afterwards, he travelled to Portugal, where he found jobbing work in hotels and garages before eventually being tracked down by police and extradited to Germany.
After serving his sentence he returned to Portugal and in 2004 he was said to have raped Irish tour guide Hazel Behan at her apartment in Praia da Rocha on the Algarve coast – close to where Madeleine vanished three years later.
In 2005, he raped 72-year-old American woman, Diana Menkes, who was living in the Algarve and who has since died.
In 2007, the same year Madeleine went missing, Brueckner left Portugal and didn’t return for nine years, instead basing himself in Germany where his offending ‘spiralled’.
Mr and Mrs McCann have never given up hope that Madeleine could be found but – despite one of the biggest manhunts in British history – she remains missing.
The McCann family of four – including Maddy’s twin siblings Sean and Amelie – are pictured together in Leicestershire on Sunday
The parents did not address the 50-strong crowd outside their home in Rothley on Sunday, but looked pained as prayers were said for their daughter.
After the brief 20-minute service Kate, wearing dark casual trousers with a puffer jacket, was seen smiling as she hugged and chatted to locals.
The family of four later walked away from the event to their nearby home.
In a new post on social media Kate and Gerry wrote: ‘Nineteen years. The search goes on to find our Madeleine, to achieve some justice, to make the world that bit safer.’
They added on the official Find Madeleine Facebook page: ‘We remain very grateful for all our support – from friends and family, people we know and those we don’t – and from the police and authorities for their continued determination and effort. Thank you.
‘For Madeleine, who we love and miss every day, we will never give up. Kate, Gerry and family.’
