Madeleine McCann detectives are yet to search the home of prime suspect Christian Brueckner’s ex-partner, despite revelations that he called her on the night the three-year-old went missing.
At Brueckner’s trial in Germany, the woman surprisingly admitted that he had called her to tell her that he was driving to her home in Portugal and that she didn’t know if he had arrived.
Brueckner, currently on trial accused of sex crimes unrelated to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in May 2007, allegedly told his ex that he had been at Tomar that night, a “well-known pedophile center,” according to Sun.
It was revealed that the woman’s father and the German prosecutor insisted that police investigate the complex near Praia de Luz in 2022, but they never arrived.
Despite being held responsible for Madeleine’s “kidnapping and murder” by German police for four years, Brueckner has yet to be charged. He denies the allegations.
Christian Brueckner, the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, appeared in court in Braunschweig, Germany, on February 16, 2024, accused of other crimes.
Madeleine McCann disappeared from the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.
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.”
“We can only ask them,” he said, as reported Sun. “We can’t go alone.”
The woman’s father also told The Sun on Sunday that he had told the equivalent of the German FBI that “they must dig up the garden and the house there.”
Madeleine McCann disappeared from the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.
The McCanns were given ‘arguido’ suspect status in September 2007, which was withdrawn when the case was dropped in July 2008 for lack of evidence.
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 was officially named a suspect in April 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.
Brueckner now faces accusations that he called his ex on May 3, 2007 and told him he had been in Tomar, a place where he regularly parked his motorhomes.
Then three-year-old Madeleine disappeared from the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, on Portugal’s Algarve coast, in May 2007, where she was staying with her parents and siblings.
Brueckner arrives at court in Germany where he is being tried on unrelated sex crime allegations
At the trial, his ex-partner said he had urged the police to investigate the premises.
On November 18 last year, prosecutors confirmed that Brueckner would be tried on several counts of sexual abuse against women between the ages of 10 and 80.
Brueckner is currently on trial accused of raping three women and assaulting children between 2000 and 2017 in the Algarve.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2019 after being found guilty of raping an elderly woman in the Algarve in 2005.
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 connection to Madeleine, but so far all attempts have failed.
The trial is expected to continue through the spring and summer.