Madeleine McCann: Crucial witness to testify against prime suspect Christian B

Madeleine McCann went missing in 2007 when she was on holiday with her family in Portugal. Her case garnered international interest as her parents - who were also long considered possible suspects - campaigned tirelessly for her search efforts. Christian Brückner is now the prime suspect in her case, but this is far from the first time he has faced legal punishment for terrible crimes against women and children.

Helge B was once friends with the convicted rapist, who is said to have had terrible fits of rage, but he testified against Christian B during a previous case that put behind him bars for seven years. Christian B’s lawyers had been trying to say that Helge was lying about evidence, but this has now been overruled. Here’s everything you need to know.

Who is Helge B?

Helge B used to be pals with Christian B but, after allegedly witnessing some very traumatic videotapes, he talked to the police. Helge B has previously said that he met the criminal around the same time that Maddie went missing, and thought he was a ‘nice guy’.

He claims that the pair later went to a festival together and, after a few drinks, Christian B revealed he had snatched the British toddler. The convicted criminal allegedly told his pal that she ‘didn’t scream’. Helge B says he contacted Scotland Yard in 2009, but that he was never called back. However, his witness statement about video footage he saw that documented Christian B’s abuse of an older woman was taken seriously and led to Christian B being found guilty of the assault of a 72-year-old American woman.

The videotapes

Helge B claimed to have stolen a video camera from Christian B. The footage, he said, showed his former pal abusing a tied-up woman of around ‘70 or 80 years old’. Helge B identified the man as Christian B when the man in the video, he says, sat down and pulled his mask off.

Christian B’s lawyers are trying to discredit Helge B’s testimony because he originally said he had left the camera in a caravan in Portugal before leaving the country but later seemed not so sure. Last year, when being interviewed about Maddie, he said he may have left them at a holiday home he was living in at the time. However, a judge has ruled that there is no evidence he was lying.

This means that this key witness is set to testify at the Braunschweig Regional Court during Christian B’s trial in February.

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Sources used:

The Sun: MADDIE TWIST Madeleine McCann case breakthrough as ‘most important witness’ WILL testify against Christian B

The Sun: MADDIE SHOCK I was Madeleine McCann suspect Christian B’s pal – I told Met cops about him in 2009… they did nothing for 9 years