The main suspect in the Madeleine McCann case seduced a young mother in a chat room used by “paedophiles and sick people”, where he told her he thought her three-year-old daughter was “pretty” and “could be a model”, a court heard .
Christian Brueckner, 47, who is currently on trial accused of carrying out separate sexual attacks on women and children in Portugal, is said to have met his ex-girlfriend on the dating site in 2013, before she discovered he was ” where there were many pedophiles.” .. operate’.
“At first I thought it was about me,” the Hanover woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court yesterday. ‘But when I spoke to him, I mentioned my daughter. She was almost four years old…she said that she was cute and that she could be a model.’
The witness claimed that Brueckner had also bragged to her about robbing vacation apartments at night and alleged that he had “always” been drunk, but that she did not feel unsafe leaving her daughter alone with him.
Brueckner is also being investigated by German prosecutors, who believe he may have kidnapped Madeleine McCann, then three years old, from a rented holiday villa in Praia da Luz in May 2007.
Christian Brueckner arrives at the court in Braunschweig, Germany, accused of sexual crimes
Madeleine McCann disappeared from a rented villa in Portugal in May 2007
Brueckner’s ex-girlfriend testified in court Wednesday that the convicted pedophile had asked her for photos of her daughter after learning she was three years old.
“He just said he thought she was pretty and that she could be a model,” she said, according to reports. The times.
The woman also said that while she “never met him sober,” she never felt unsafe leaving him alone with her daughter when they went out dog walking.
Brueckner is still serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old American pensioner in Praia da Luz in 2005.
In 2020, a year after his sentencing, German investigators named him as the main suspect in the Madeleine McCann case.
Brueckner denies involvement in the disappearance.
Brueckner now faces trial accused of raping a woman in Praia da Rocha in 2004 and abusing a teenager and a woman between 70 and 80 years old in Praia da Luz, where he lived, between December 2000 and June 2006. .
He is also accused of exposing himself and masturbating in front of children on at least two occasions in Portugal and insulting prison officials in Germany.
His current trial began in February and has heard from witnesses who say they saw Brueckner in harrowing sex videos showing the rape of an elderly woman and a young girl.
Brueckner’s defense has tried several times to have witnesses thrown out, saying the case is unfair and prejudicial against their client because of the link to Madeleine, but so far all attempts have failed.
A former girlfriend of Brueckner claimed earlier in the trial that detectives in the Madeleine McCann case had not yet searched her home, despite revelations that he called her the night she disappeared.
The woman said that on the night of May 3, 2007, Brueckner had called her to tell her that he was driving to his home in Portugal and that he did not know if he had arrived.
It was revealed that the woman’s father and German prosecutors had urged police to investigate the complex near Praia da Luz in 2022, but they never arrived.
Speaking at the trial in Germany, the unnamed woman said: “I don’t know if he arrived late that night, parked the vehicle outside, slept there and left that morning again.”
German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said they gave information about the house to Portuguese police but “I don’t know if they are going to do anything.”
Madeleine McCann disappeared from the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.
The case was closed in July 2008 due to lack of evidence, but the family kept the investigation open with private detectives until Scotland Yard opened its own investigation in 2011.
German police in Braunschweig have since taken up the case after identifying a convicted pedophile as a new suspect.
German prosecutor Hans Wolters said the evidence included phone analysis that placed the suspect at the Ocean Club resort and an alleged confession Brueckner made to a friend.
Brueckner named suspect under investigation by the Met in 2020, in what they described as a murder investigation.
Christian Brueckner is currently on trial in Germany on sexual assault charges which she denies.
Madeleine McCann disappeared from the complex in 2007 and the case was closed in 2008.
Police said he was seen in the area around Praia da Luz in the days and weeks before Madeleine disappeared.
Portuguese prosecutors formally identified as suspected Brueckner in 2022 after his yellow and white VW T3 Westfalia caravan was reportedly seen near the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal, where Madeleine disappeared.
Brueckner denied being in the area at the time and distanced himself from the accusations against him.
German prosecutors say phone records show he received a call on May 3, 2007, near the Ocean Club.
He claimed he was miles away with a young woman at the time.