Dilip Kuner
GERMAN police are gathering evidence as they prepare to question Christian Brueckner who they have named as the chief suspect in the Madeleine McCann disappearance case.
Chief Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters recently revealed that police are following up new information, saying: “We got leads from England, including ones from tourists on holiday in Portugal during this time.
“We got some photos where there might be some interesting things on them. There are quite good leads we are following up.”
Now the German authorities are set to move Brueckner, 43, to a notorious high security jail called Wolfenbuttel, which was once used by the Gestapo as an execution centre where deserters, PoWs, and civilians who fell foul of the evil Nazi regime were put to death.
Investigators say this will make their task of interrogating Brueckner much easier as he will be close to their centre of operations.
At the moment the paedophile – who is serving a seven year sentence for rape – is incarcerated hundreds of kilometres away in Kiel.
Earlier this month he had an application for parole turned down. Now police say they are gathering evidence in preparation to officially interrogate the rapist.
While serving a 21 month sentence for drugs offences, Brueckner was convicted of raping a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz in 2005 – the same Portuguese resort from which Madeleine went missing two years later – and given a second jail term of seven years.
With his probation request turned down and an appeal against his rape conviction rejected, he will not be released until 2026, meaning German investigators feel they now have the time to build a case.
Officers in Braunschweig, around 15 minutes’ drive from Wolfenbuttel, are planning to question Brueckner about the Madeleine case, as well as two others, once they have enough evidence.
A source told The Sun: ‘Brueckner hasn’t been questioned yet in connection with the Madeleine inquiry as the evidence is still being gathered and checked but the idea is to wait until he is closer to where the team are based.
“A 640km round trip every week would waste a lot of time and resources and now we know he will be in prison until 2026 we know where he is and we can get to him easier.
“The feeling is though he won’t say anything even when we do see him but at least it will make it easier.”
