17 September 2025 , 09:51
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The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been released from prison in Germany.
German national Christian Brueckner had been serving a seven-year prison sentence for the rape of an elderly woman at her home in Praia da Luz in 2005.
The Met said the 49-year-old remains a suspect in its own investigation – with Portuguese and German authorities also probing the three-year-old girl’s disappearance.
Madeleine vanished in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in 2007, shortly after she was left sleeping by her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, who went for dinner in a nearby restaurant.
Brueckner left the high-security prison in Sehnde near Hanover just after 9.15am German time (8.15am BST), on Wednesday morning, German police said.
According to German media, he will have to wear an electronic tag, report to probation staff and give up his passport.
A court hearing is also listed for October 27 in Oldenburg in north-west Germany, to deal with a case in which he is accused of insulting a prison employee.
Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Police said it had sent an international letter of request to 49-year-old German national Christian Brueckner for him to speak with them upon his release, which he later rejected.
He has previously denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
A number of searches have been carried out by German, Portuguese and British authorities since Madeleine’s disappearance – with the latest taking place near the Portuguese municipality of Lagos in June.
In 2023, investigators carried out searches near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz.
Brueckner spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017 and had photographs and videos of himself near the reservoir.
In October last year, the suspect was cleared by a German court of unrelated sexual offences, alleged to have taken place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
The total funding given to the Met’s investigation, titled Operation Grange, has been more than £13.2 million since 2011 after a further £108,000 was secured from the Government in April.
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