https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8445183/I-know-did-Christian-Brueckners-friend-says-German-guilty-taking-Madeline-McCann.html'I KNOW he did it': Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner's friend says the drifter talked of selling children in Morocco
A friend of Christian Brueckner believes the German took Madeline McCann
Michael Tatschl was a cellmate of Brueckner's before their release in 2006
The Austrian carpenter said pervert Brueckner was capable of snatching a child
Mr Tatschl believes Madeline could have been sold to an individual or a sex ring
By ARTHUR MARTIN IN PRAIA DA LUZ FOR THE DAILY MAIL
A close friend and former cellmate of Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner declared yesterday: ‘I know he did it.’
Michael Tatschl, who lived with Brueckner in a ramshackle farmhouse near the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz, described him as a pervert who was ‘more than capable of snatching a child’.
The Austrian carpenter said his friend bragged about making money by trafficking drugs and burgling apartments, and once talked about ‘selling children to Morocco’.
He thinks Brueckner probably sold Madeleine to another individual – possibly a sex ring.
The pair spent eight months in the same prison after they were caught stealing 320 litres of diesel from lorries in Portugal.
Both were released in December 2006 – five months before three-year-old Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.
Mr Tatschl became convinced of his friend’s involvement after watching an eight-part Netflix documentary on the case last year.
In one episode, a tourist describes how a man fitting Brueckner’s description started acting strangely around her child in Praia da Luz in the days before Madeleine vanished.
Speaking for the first time yesterday, Mr Tatschl revealed that he was grilled for two days about Brueckner last year by police investigating Madeleine’s disappearance.
The father-of-one, who has returned to his homeland, was interviewed for 14 hours by four detectives at a police station in Graz, southern Austria.
Mr Tatschl, 46, said: ‘The detectives were very clear with me from the first minute.
‘They said, “We are investigating Maddie McCann and Christian Brueckner”, and I told them I knew why they were here. I was convinced it was him. I know he did it. I was living with him at the time.
‘He was my best friend and he was definitely a pervert and more than capable of snatching a child, for sexual kicks or money.’
He thought Brueckner would be arrested shortly after his police interview and said he ‘cannot believe’ Portuguese detectives have not yet searched the farmhouse they once shared.
‘When I saw the Netflix documentary I knew immediately that he was guilty,’ he said.
‘It was when the female tourist talked about the man turning up at her door where her child was playing, that I knew it was Christian for sure.
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