The chief suspect in the Madeleine McCann case claims he has a cast-iron alibi which can be backed up by a woman he was with on the night the toddler disappeared.
German national Christian Brueckner, 45, insists he was having sex with a woman in his camper van when three-year-old Madeleine disappeared while holidaying with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on February 3, 2007.
Bruckner further alleges that he drove the young woman to Faro Airport in Portugal on the morning after their encounter.
He says the young woman was arrested at the airport for carrying pepper spray and later appeared in court, Sky News reports.
Brueckner is understood have asked for Portugese Police to find a record of the incident, as he reportedly believes his relationship with the woman will prove his innocence.
German national Christian Brueckner, 45, insists he was having sex with a woman in his camper van when three-year-old Madeleine disappeared while holidaying with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on February 3, 2007
The turn of events comes almost 15 years to the day that three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared while holidaying with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, leading the investigation, said: 'I assume if he has anything that exonerates him that sooner or later he will share it with us and we would then check it out. What happens then, let's see.
'So far he has told us nothing, he's given us no alibi.'
German police officers have reportedly told a possible witness to be ready to give evidence in court against Brueckner.
The turn of events comes almost 15 years to the day that three-year-old Madeleine disappeared while holidaying with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Madeleine vanished from the apartment she slept in with her two younger siblings while her parents visited a nearby tapas bar.
Brueckner was first named as a suspect by German Police in 2020 and is known to be a convicted paedophile.
German prosecutors insist they have evidence that Brueckner is responsible for Madeleine's disappearance.
Bruckner further alleges that he drove the young woman to Faro Airport in Portugal (pictured) on the morning after their encounter, where she was allegedly arrested for carrying pepper spray
Portugese police listed him as an 'arguido' - an official suspect - in her disappearance last month.
Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann have never given up hope of finding their daughter alive but are said to have welcomed the news that Brueckner may be charged.
The toddler vanished from the apartment she slept in with her two younger siblings on May 3, 2007, as her parents dined at a nearby tapas restaurant.
Despite extensive police searches and worldwide media attention, no trace of Madeleine has ever been found.
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said that after gathering evidence, his team of investigators are '100% convinced' that Brueckner killed Madeleine.
Friends who knew Brueckner during the time he stayed in Portugal in 2007 understand that charges will soon be made.
Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann have never given up hope of finding their daughter alive but are said to have welcomed the news that Brueckner has been charged
On May 3, 2007 Kate and Gerry McCann went to a small tapas bar metres away from their apartment to dine with friends. But when Kate returned to do a routine check on their children, she found that Madeleine had disappeared
One former friend said: 'I got a call from the Germans asking questions about a previous statement I made.
'They said I should be prepared to come to Germany, possibly at the end of the summer. They said they were hoping to charge Christian with something but didn't go into any more detail.'
In addition to kidnapping Madeleine, Brueckner is also a suspect in the rape of an Irish tour rep in 2004 as well as exposing himself to children in a playground.
It is not known if the new charges - said to be imminent - relate to Madeleine or the other crimes in which Brueckner is a suspect.
Brueckner is serving a seven-year jail term for a brutal 2005 sex attack on a 72-year-old woman and his application for early release has been rejected by the German authorities.
He's a monster. But I'm sure he didn't do it... and convicting the wrong man would leave real killer at large: Investigator who has followed every twist and turn of Madeleine McCann case believes Christian Brueckner is not responsible for her disappearance A Madeline McCann case investigator thinks police are after the wrong man Last month jailed paedophile Christian Brueckner was named as a chief suspect Mark Williams-Thomas says his evidence blows police's claims to 'smithereens'By Mark Williams-Thomas for the Daily Mail
The case against the man suspected of abducting and killing Madeleine McCann rests on three key pieces of evidence. Convicted paedophile Christian Brueckner was named last month by Portuguese police as the official chief suspect or arguido in her presumed murder.
The question is: can we trust the evidence? Or is the entire indictment based on lies and wishful thinking?
In a major private investigation, hunting down witnesses and conducting interviews across Europe for more than six months, I have uncovered significant fresh information that doesn't merely call the prosecution case into question.
It blows their claims to smithereens.
Not only are their facts inaccurate and misleading, but they are ignoring potentially the most important evidence of all – a strong alibi for Christian Brueckner, 44, supplied by a woman who has no reason to lie.
Christian Brueckner (pictured) is a convicted paedophile and has been named as the official chief suspect for the of Madeline McCann's disappearance, but an investigator believes he didn't commit this crime
Investigator Mark Williams-Thomas (pictured) has been following the Madeline McCann case from the very beginning, and he doesn't think Christian Brueckner was involved
Prosecutors in Germany, where Brueckner is in prison, assert he boasted of snatching, abusing and killing Madeleine in a bar-room confession to an associate.
They point to the fact that Brueckner was living in Praia da Luz, close to the Algarve holiday complex in Portugal where Madeleine and her family were staying in May 2007.
And, in the most sensational and damning claim of all, they say telecoms mast data shows Brueckner was outside the McCanns' apartment on his mobile phone for 30 minutes on the evening the little girl vanished.
Though Madeleine's body has never been found and no forensic evidence exists to link Brueckner definitively to her abduction, those three strands when combined appear to show strong circumstantial evidence.
There is no doubt he is a man with repellent sexual leanings. A self-confessed drug dealer and burglar, he is serving a seven-year sentence in a German prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in her home on the south coast of Portugal, not far from Praia da Luz in 2005.
He denies having anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance. But to the general public, desperate for this notorious mystery to be solved and for an end to the ordeal of Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, his guilt might now seem beyond question as a result of the German prosecutors' reports.
Madeleine McCann (pictured), aged three, disappeared as she slept in a holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007
I have been investigating the truth of what happened to Maddie, who was nine days away from her fourth birthday when she disappeared on May 3, 2007, since the beginning. Within 72 hours of the alarm being raised by Kate, when she checked on her three children during dinner at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz and found that Madeleine was gone, I flew to the Algarve.
I have followed every twist of the story with intense interest ever since. It is my fervent wish to see the perpetrator caught but that cannot be achieved by selecting a likely scapegoat and pinning the allegations on him.
Worse, if the wrong man is convicted of Madeleine's murder, then the real killer remains free.
In my determination to get to the truth, I have interviewed more people, tracked down more witnesses and broken down more obstacles than any other investigator. I have spoken in depth to the German prosecutors and Brueckner's solicitor as well as corresponding with the suspect himself. What I have uncovered is deeply troubling. The much-vaunted confession in a bar simply doesn't stand up.
Not only is there no proof that it ever happened but the man accusing Brueckner lacks all credibility. It is concerning that the German police ever took his statements seriously.
There is no doubt Brueckner was in the Algarve around the time of Madeleine's abduction. One woman's testimony proves that. But this woman, who was just 17 at the time of her brief relationship with the known drug pedlar and thief, can also place him miles away from Praia da Luz – and denies that his behaviour that week was in any way out of the ordinary. Just as damaging are my findings about the mobile supposedly used by Brueckner in Praia da Luz in the minutes before Maddie went missing. The idea that it pinpoints his whereabouts is just not accurate
