Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner admits he was just 150 yards from her family's holiday apartment on night she vanished
By RAINER BURKARD and ABUL TAHER
Published: 00:46, 20 September 2026 | Updated: 01:37, 20 September 2026
The prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has admitted he was just 150 yards from her holiday apartment on the night she disappeared.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, convicted rapist and paedophile Christian Brueckner, 49, also said he was stopped in his van three times by police later that evening while making a 'quick getaway', but was waved through without being searched.
Until now, the German national, who denies involvement in the three-year-old's disappearance, has refused to discuss his whereabouts when she vanished from her family's apartment at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007.
At the time, her parents Gerry and Kate McCann were dining with friends 100 yards away.
Brueckner told the MoS: 'I was on the beach, not far from Maddie's hotel, selling drugs. I'd been in Spain and smuggled the weed into Portugal.' He was just 150 yards away.
'I was even stopped by police three times on the street [in Praia da Luz] while they were looking for Maddie,' he added.
'Luckily, they didn't find the drugs. My van was full of them.
'I was making a quick getaway; there were flashing blue lights and checkpoints everywhere. I just thought, 'Get me out of here'.' Explaining his silence on the matter until now, Brueckner said: 'I've kept quiet because the police want to frame me for the Maddie thing.'
Last night, a source close to the McCann family said: 'If what he [Brueckner] says is true, it obviously begs the question of what might have been if the Portuguese police had not let him slip through their fingers.'
At the time of Madeleine's disappearance, police in Portugal were criticised for their lack of urgency and not taking her abduction seriously.
In 2020, Brueckner was named as the top suspect in the case by German prosecutors.
They said they had 'concrete evidence' against him but not enough to secure a conviction.
In 2007, Brueckner was regularly spending time in Portugal and a mobile phone registered to his name was traced close to the McCanns' accommodation on the evening Madeleine vanished.
Metropolitan Police detectives are trying to bring Brueckner to Britain to stand trial for her abduction and murder. He has two convictions for rape and been found guilty of crimes including theft, drug trafficking, assault and sexual abuse of children.
Brueckner was released from prison in Germany in September last year after serving six years for the rape of a 72-year-old US tourist. He was then placed on round-the-clock surveillance.
In a separate development, it has emerged that Brueckner is being investigated over an alleged sex attack on a girl of nine in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, in 2015.
Whether his admissions about the night of Madeleine's abduction hasten moves to extradite him to the UK remains to be seen.
Yesterday, the Met said a dedicated team was continuing to examine the case and remained in close working discussion with police colleagues in Germany and Portugal.
A spokesman added: 'We will continue to pursue any viable lines of enquiry.' In 2020, German prosecutor Christian Wolters said Brueckner's Portuguese phone received a call from another Portuguese number at 7.32pm on the evening that Madeleine disappeared.
He said the call, which lasted 30 minutes, was significant. It was later discovered that it was from Diogo Silva, of Portugal.
But in his interview with the MoS, Brueckner stonewalled questions about this call, saying he could not remember whether he had ever used the mobile number released by German police. He also denied knowing Silva.
On the morning after Madeleine disappeared, Brueckner re-registered the Jaguar XJR-6 car he owned in Germany to a friend's name.
As for a VW camper van, which he sometimes used to live in, Brueckner sold it to a car dealer, identified as Peter W, in Regensburg, Bavaria, for ?5,000 in 2015.
Brueckner insisted to the MoS: 'I have nothing to do with the little girl's disappearance 'I would be happy if Maddie turned up tomorrow, then everyone would immediately understand that everything against me is and was staged.
'But that probably won't happen, so I remain the prime suspect.'
