Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner disowned by adoptive mother: 'I have said goodbye'

TW: mentions of sexual abuse

The Madeleine McCann case shook the whole world, and especially the UK, when the three-year-old girl went missing back in 2007. Madeleine was on holiday with her family in Portugal when she disappeared from a room, leaving behind her two twin siblings. Despite the fact that the toddler had a very distinctive condition that give her immediately recognisable eyes, she has never been found.

Her parents were considered suspects for a long time, and the Portuguese police recently apologised to the couple for their treatment of the affair. They admitted that Madeleine’s parents had perhaps been right - the person who took their child may have been watching the family for some time, and planned the kidnapping carefully. The prime suspect in the case is Christian Brueckner, a known criminal, whose own mother has recently spoken out against him.

Brueckner’s mother has disowned him

Brueckner has a very disturbing criminal record, and is currently on trial for sexual assault. Back in 2020, he was named as a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance and he has since become the prime suspect. In 2020, Brueckner’s adoptive mother Brigitte said:

I don’t know anything about it. I don’t want to know anything about it.

Speaking for the first time since then, the widow said: ‘I don’t have anything to do with him anymore’:

As far as I’m concerned I have said goodbye. Auf Wiedersehen.

Brigitte and her husband Fritz adopted Brueckner and his older brother from a home in the 70s.

Brueckner’s childhood

When Brueckner was first announced as a suspect, stories about his childhood started to surface. He was a very disruptive teen, locals from his village reported, with one saying:

The Bruckners were a lovely couple, very kind. But what happened with their boy Christian is a catastrophe.

Villagers said that the couple had managed to keep a lid on Brueckner’s behaviour, but everything changed when Fritz was seriously injured in a car accident. The accident happened when Brueckner was around 13, and his behaviour only got worse.

Brueckner went from bad to worse

The same local explained:

As the man of the house, it was Fritz who disciplined the boy. Christian needed a firm hand. But after the accident he could not do that any more.

Brigitte, the mother, did her best but she could not cope with the boy and look after her husband.

The difficult teen was even sent to a special school for ‘delinquent’ teens in Würzburg. A local woman, who is now a mother, spoke about the criminal in 2020:

I knew Christian growing up. I was two years younger than him so I wasn’t that close to him but I knew him well because of his ­reputation. He was well-known in our area for getting into trouble.

A former worker from the home Brueckner stayed at as a baby said:

It’s terrifying to see what he has become when you see the pictures of him at court with those frightening eyes.

I’m sure anyone he used to know would definitely be afraid if they saw him today. We never want him back here.

When Brueckner was named a suspect in 2020, a close family friend Monica Veirheilig said: ‘This will destroy Brigitte’. It seems that now, four years on, she really has fully disowned her son.

Read more:

⋙ Madeleine McCann: New unnerving details surface about Christian B, her suspected murderer

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

⋙ Revealed: Madeleine McCann prime suspect 'had fits of uncontrollable rage'

Sources used:

The Sun: SHUNNED BY MUM Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner finally disowned by mum over his sickening crimes

Mirror: Madeleine McCann suspect 'threw adoptive parents' kindness back in their faces'