Madeleine McCann’s investigation into Christian Brueckner could face a major setback as it has been revealed that a key witness is dying of cancer.
Convicted rapist and pedophile Bruckner, 47, was sensationally named by German police four years ago as the man responsible for Madeleine’s “kidnapping and murder”.
Helge Busching, a former friend and now a key witness in the investigation, alerted police to Brueckner seven years ago, when he told them that Brueckner had “confessed” to him that Madeleine “didn’t cry when I took her.”
But it was revealed that Busching, a convicted felon, was recently diagnosed with intestinal cancer, which could set back the investigation if police lose him as a witness.
Then, in May 2007, three-year-old Madeleine disappeared from a ground-floor holiday apartment while on holiday with her parents Kate and Gerry in Praia da Luz, on the Portuguese coast of the Algarve.
However, despite police naming him as a suspect, Brueckner has yet to be charged and is currently on trial in her native Germany, accused of unrelated sex crimes that took place in the same area where she disappeared.
Madeleine McCann suspects Christian Brueckner (pictured in court today) of breaking into holiday apartments naked, former friend told during her sex crimes trial
Convicted rapist and pedophile Bruckner, 47, was sensationally named by German police four years ago as the man responsible for the ‘kidnapping and murder’ of Madeleine (pictured).
Busching appeared in court to testify in Brueckner’s ongoing trial this week, but it wasn’t until another former Brueckner pal, who testified today, that Busching’s cancer diagnosis was revealed .
Michael Tatschl, a former accomplice of Brueckner, told the court that he spoke to Busching on the phone this week.
“We discussed general topics, including his cancer. It’s pretty bad. He only received his diagnosis a few months ago,” Tatschl said.
Tatschl also said his involvement in the investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance changed his life “negatively” and he lost his job, home and friends.
Earlier in the day, Tatschl told the trial that Brueckner entered vacation apartments naked.
He said Brueckner would use a bizarre modus operandi in order to not leave evidence and hang his clothes on surfaces.
Tatschl said: “He climbed the walls. Once he told me he broke in and there were three teenage girls sleeping in the living room. He was naked. One of them woke up when a phone rang and shouted.
“The girl’s father heard the scream and came, so Christian had to run and jump from the balcony. He robbed naked several times because he didn’t want to leave a trace.
Michael Tatschl (pictured in court today), a former accomplice of Brueckner, said he would use a bizarre modus operandi to not leave evidence and grab his clothes from surfaces.
Carpenter Tatschl, 50, is the last witness to testify in court in Braunschweig, where Brueckner arrived early Friday under a heavy police escort.
Tatschl previously said he was a “partner in crime” with Brueckner when they lived in Portugal and told German media he had heard him talk about “selling children to a pedophile ring in Morocco.”
In a previous interview, he also said he was “convinced” that Bruecker took Madeleine and said: “I know he did it.” He is more than capable of carrying a small child.
Tatschl was asked if he still believed that Brueckner stole Madeleine to sell to a pedophile ring and he replied: “That was my suspicion because he wanted money.”
Tatschl said he suspected the snatch involved a pedophile ring operating in Morocco because that country was “close” to Portugal.
Tatschl told the court he also learned about the graphic videos that showed Brueckner attacking and raping an elderly woman and a young girl.
He said: “I heard about it from Helge Busching and Manfred Seyferth, but I don’t remember who told me first.”
Tatschl added that he saw “whips and masks” in Brueckner’s Portuguese house and a “stash of 500 passports that he kept like trophies.”
In a shocking revelation, Tatschl later told the court that Brueckner had bragged in prison that he had “kidnapped a girl around 14-15 years old and tied her to a post in his house” before letting her go .
Brueckner and Tatschl were jailed in 2006 for fuel theft in Portugal and shared the same cell before being released just weeks before Madeleine disappeared.
On November 18 last year, prosecutors confirmed that Brueckner would stand trial on various charges of sexual abuse against women aged between 10 and 80.
Then, in May 2007, three-year-old Madeleine disappeared from the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, on Portugal’s Algarve coast, where she was staying with her parents Kate and Gerry and her siblings.
In his testimony, Tatschl, dressed in a white shirt, described how he met Brueckner in early 2006 and became friends with him over the following weeks.
He said: “He told me how he made money, he broke into houses, tourist houses, hotels, at night when they weren’t there.
“He would even break in while they were sleeping and if they were on the first or even second floor. He had a small box filled with stolen items, jewelry and watches.
Earlier, Brueckner was led into court in handcuffs and greeted his legal team with warm handshakes.
Portuguese police have always claimed that Madeleine’s kidnapper broke into the apartment through a window.
They say the culprit probably left with the child through a door or back up through a window.
Kate and Gerry, from Rothley, Leicestershire, led a high-profile campaign for information about her disappearance.
Brueckner is on trial for raping three women and assaulting children between 2000 and 2017 in the Algarve.
He was jailed for seven years in 2019 after being convicted of raping an elderly woman in the Algarve in 2005.
His current trial began in February and witnesses have heard testimony about seeing Brueckner in harrowing sex tapes showing the rape of an elderly woman and a young girl.
Brueckner’s defense has repeatedly attempted to exclude witnesses, believing the case to be unfair and detrimental to their client due to the connection to Madeleine, but all attempts have so far failed.
The trial is expected to continue through the spring and into the summer.