Brexit is preventing Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, from facing trial in Britain, German officials have said.
Brueckner, 48, was sensationally named by German authorities as the person responsible for Madeleine’s 2007 disappearance from Portugal six years ago.
But since then, no charges have been brought, and he continues to be the subject of intense scrutiny despite relentless attempts to put him on trial.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Scotland Yard was seeking to get the convicted rapist and paedophile into the UK to have him stand trial at the Old Bailey.
But in a shocking blow to the Metropolitan Police, a representative of the German government said it cannot extradite criminal suspects to non-EU countries because of strict rules put in place after the end of the Second World War.
Article 16 of the German constitution states that, with the exception of EU member states and international courts like the Hague, ‘no German may be extradited to a foreign country.’
Before the UK left the EU, a German national could be automatically extradited to the UK under the European Arrest Warrant, which requires members of the EU to surrender suspected criminals to each other with little to no fuss.
As a result, extraditions from Germany to the UK have been ‘generally precluded by German constitutional law’ following Brexit.
Brexit is preventing Christian Brueckner (pictured), the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann , from facing trial in Britain, German officials have said
Madeleine disappeared in May 2007 while staying at a hotel in Praia da Luz in the Algarve, Portugal
Asked by the Telegraph whether Brexit has blocked the UK from holding suspects like Brueckner to account, a German government spokesperson said: ‘Yes, that is the case.’
Just yesterday, Brueckner’s team laughed off the notion that he would be brought to the UK to face trial for her abduction.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, a source close to his legal team said: ‘We have been here many times before, and nothing has ever happened; we are sure this attempt will go the same way.
‘If the UK authorities have any evidence and if they are so sure of it, why don’t they share with the Germans so that they can look at it and press their own charges.
‘German law forbids German citizens from being extradited to another country; they can only be put on trial in Germany, so the chances of this happening are non-existent.’
Meanwhile, another source close to Brueckner said: ‘He has seen the news and is aware of it. He’s completely unfazed by it. As far as he is concerned, they have had years to bring a case against him and have failed.
‘He’s very confident this won’t be going anywhere soon, but then again, he has always been an arrogant and self-assured man.’
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 from.
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 that 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.
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)
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 that Brueckner had told them a year after Madeleine vanished that she ‘didn’t scream’ when she was taken.
