Police say McCanns were 'right all along': Madeleine's abductor had been 'watching' the family

TW: mentions of rape, child abuse and kidnapping.

Madeleine McCann went missing in 2007, and we all still remember her name and the mystery surrounding her disappearance. Madeleine vanished from an Ocean Club apartment in Praia da Luz on 3 May sixteen years ago. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann went for dinner with friends at a restaurant in the complex, 100 yards away, leaving Madeleine and her younger twin siblings in the apartment. The adults used a rota system, checking on the children routinely, but when it was Kate’s turn she realised that her 3-year-old daughter had disappeared.

The tragic story was picked up by media across the globe as a massive investigation was carried out, but to no avail: no one could figure out what had happened to Madeleine. Four months after her disappearance, Kate and Gerry McCann were made suspects in the Portuguese investigation.

They were questioned by detectives who believed the couple had staged their daughter’s abduction and hidden Madeleine’s body. Kate has said she was even offered a deal to admit to this, in exchange for a shorter sentence. Now, Portuguese police have apologised for their behaviour and the way they dealt with the case. This is where the investigation currently stands.

The Potuguese police apologise

Kate and Gerry’s suspect status was lifted in 2008 but they remained under suspicion in Portugal for years. According to BBC Panorama, ‘a delegation of senior officers travelled from Lisbon to London earlier this year’ to meet with Gerry McCann.

The officers reportedly apologised for the way their detectives treated the case and the family in the wake of Madeleine’s disappearance. At the time, the McCanns had a theory that someone has been ‘watching’ the family and waiting for a ‘window of opportunity’ to take the little girl.

The police dismissed this on the grounds that there was no evidence of a break-in to the apartment. They insisted, despite the fact that the couple had admitted a window had been left open in the room which would have given easy access to an intruder. However, the Portuguese police have since said they ‘agree’ with German investigators who suspect that a man named Christian Brueckner had, in fact, been keeping tabs on the family.

Who is Christian Brueckner?

In June 2020, police revealed that a 43-year-old German prisoner had been identified as a formal suspect. Christian Brueckner is currently doing time in prison for the rape of a woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, and is suspected of further child sexual abuse committed in the same area between 2000 and 2017. Brueckner allegedly visited a remote reservoir in Portugal, around 30 miles from where Madeleine went missing, ‘days’ after Madeleine’s disappearance.

Earlier this year, searches were carried out in and around the beauty spot. A new BBC documentary Prime Suspect: Who took Madeleine McCann? follows on from this police search, which was requested by German investigators who believe Brueckner kidnapped and killed the toddler. Mr Wolters, prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig, said:

We have indications that we could find evidence there. I don't want to say what that is exactly, and I also don't want to say where these indications come from.

The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesn't come from the suspect - so we don't have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search.

In the BBC’s documentary, investigators said the case is expected to be ‘solved’ by next year.

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Sources used:

BBC: Portuguese police apologise to Madeleine McCann's parents

BBC: Madeleine McCann disappearance: A timeline

Mirror: BBC Prime Suspect: Who took Madeleine McCann - seven key clues in search

Express: ‘Madeleine McCann's parents were right all along’ as case to be cracked by ‘next year’