The Sun’s Rob Pattinson asked Brueckner, “What happened to Madeleine McCann?” after his release – his response was chilling
IT’S nearly two months since Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner was released from prison. After following his every step, two things are abundantly clear to me.
One is that German leaders have a massive £1million problem on their hands in the shape of a grinning paedophile. The second is much more terrifying.
Brueckner’s confidence – and with it his threat to the public and the McCann case – is growing.
I was there in Germany when the rapist was moved under armed police guard amid fears vigilantes might target him.
I demanded: “What happened to Madeleine McCann?” He just gave a chilling grin and remained silent.
Strutting around in a Panama hat or creepily mingling among families in a beanie hat and sunglasses at a city centre festival – Brueckner doesn’t cut the figure of a reformed character.
Rather, a notorious rapist and suspected child kidnapper and killer who is hell bent on getting his own way.
And now the prime suspect has been holed up under a makeshift tarpaulin tent, having been refused entry to hotels and hostels, while he makes plans to be granted a new identity.
And now we know he is free to leave Germany and roam Europe unchecked.
A shocking court order means he can quit his home country – and the moment he crosses the border, the electronic-monitoring ankle-tag, designed to let cops keep tabs on him, will stop working.
The team of police who have been tailing him 24/7 will be halted at the border and will have to let him simply go free – terrifyingly out into the world on his own terms.
Setting the monster free from his cage with no restraints, Brueckner is free to prowl the streets with every chance of reoffending.
But why is Brueckner proving such an expensive headache for German authorities?
Let’s not forget, he has a string of convictions for theft, aggravated theft, sexual abuse, attempted sexual abuse of children, performing sexual acts in front of minors, and possession of indecent images of children.
But his most abhorrent crime was the 2005 torture and rape of a 72-year-old American woman, in Praia da Luz – the same village Maddie vanished from in Portugal, in 2007.
A Sun investigation has also revealed his obsession with snatching and abusing young children – one of the many reasons he is the prime suspect in the McCann case.
His heinous existence was best summed up by the psychiatrist who observed his rape trial last year, who branded Christian Brueckner a “psychopath” and “one of the most dangerous people in society”.
All of this means he must be watched at all times.
‘We must drive past his house every hour’
He wears an ankle tag, but it is not confined to one area, so whichever city he decides to live in has to bear the policing costs of keeping a close eye on him.
While Brueckner was living in the north German town of Neumunster, one cop told us: “We have been told we must drive past his house every hour.”
Before moving to a tent, officers had been stationed outside the door of his room in a hotel in unmarked cars.
The German FBI (BKA) are also tasked with watching him, working around the clock to keep tabs in case of any repeat offending, which in my view is highly likely.
Local police watch where he is staying, for his own protection – but it falls to the BKA to track his wider movements across Germany. So far, that means he has been seen in Kiel, Neumunster, Braunschweig and Bremen – with rumours he wanted to go to Berlin.
For a man supposed to be confined to a 3km radius from his residence (without prior permission), he has already covered at least 500 miles.
The paradox of this (vastly expensive) policing headache is laughable.
After refusing to acknowledge his danger, show remorse for his crimes or engage in any kind of rehabilitation before his release, Brueckner has insisted on police protection. But not too much.
He moans if people follow him on the train and suffers paranoia that officers are listening to his phone, then quits the city of Kiel just a day after his release, on September 18, because there were “too many police”.
Yet he demanded they race to his aid when his address was leaked online.
Within two hours, a cavalcade of cop vans arrived and marched the smirking sex offender from his flat to a waiting police car.
Clapping and cheers from the watching neighbours told you everything you needed to know about their attitude towards having the fiend on their street, raising another hugely costly problem for German authorities – where to put him?
In Germany, if you announce yourself as homeless to officials in a city, they must find you emergency accommodation – which is exactly what Brueckner did on September 18 after leaving Kiel.
They put him in a bail hostel that night, but the female staff complained, and he was booted out.
The only accommodation they could find was opposite a shelter for vulnerable young women. Incredibly, the bosses were not told.
With decisions like this, it is no wonder there has been such anger and panic among local families.
Facebook and WhatsApp groups with 10,000s of members have been set up to report sightings of Brueckner so families know to be on alert if he is near their street – or worse, their children’s school or kindergarten.
At least two official marches have been organised so far. More will inevitably follow. And this means yet more policing costs – and more protection costs around Brueckner.
In recent weeks, Brueckner has been bounced from hotel to hotel, eventually setting up camp, and wherever he has gone, the public panic has followed him – peaking on the day his address was leaked.
How The Sun led investigation into Maddie suspect
By Rob Pattinson
THE Sun has led the way in covering the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
In June 2020, German investigators named him Christian B. and revealed their belief that the British toddler was dead.
A month later, we revealed fears over Brueckner’s allotment house with a cellar he was building.
The Sun later tracked down key witness Helge B down in Corsica, who claimed the sex offender told him: “She didn’t scream.”
In October 2022, The Sun revealed how Brueckner had been charged with a sex assault on a girl of ten near Praia da Luz days before Madeleine vanished.
And in September 2024, The Sun printed claims Brueckner told an ex-cellmate he had taken a child in Portugal and begged him to burn his lair.
This May, we also revealed evidence against Brueckner unearthed from police files after an investigation into him — including child abuse messages.
In June, Brueckner bragged that cops would never pin the case on him.
Last week we revealed a cop investigating Brueckner paid for his early release because she feared for his human rights.
It has inevitably been impossible for him to settle. So the solution is yet ANOTHER vast cost for the German taxpayer – the gift of a new identity.
The move is said to have been approved by German officials as part of an extraordinary operation to protect him, expected to cost millions of pounds.
This is a man who has been through two rape trials and has been kept in solitary confinement in prison for the last seven years, at a huge cost.
Justice insiders estimate the total associated bill for the Maddie suspect must now exceed a whopping £1milllion – and it’s growing.
No matter his name, the costs will continue to pile up – and clearly German officials remain so afraid of him they will keep signing the cheques.
‘Like a celebrity’
So what of Brueckner’s growing confidence – and the rising threat to the Maddie case?
I have seen firsthand how his police protection has gifted Brueckner with a visible air of untouchability.
I was there when he was led out of his apartment, flanked by police and escorted into a car like a celebrity.
I shouted at him, “What happened to Madeleine McCann?” He simply smirked. He knew I could get no closer.
It’s certain police (and his lawyers) would have hoped he would keep a low profile on his release. But arrogant Brueckner has decided otherwise.
His release conditions stated he must stay within 3km of his home without prior permission to travel. He has already ripped up that rule and used trains and buses to travel hundreds of miles across Germany, seemingly at whim.
Within two days of his release, he was seen out partying in a nightclub – and drinking whisky with regulars in a bar. Callous doesn’t come close.
He, supposedly, donned a fake beard to go and beg for free pizza from Domino’s and openly shopped among families in the German budget supermarket chain Penny’s.
Worse than that, he seems to have got a taste for media attention.
Brueckner has linked up with a German reporter friendly to his lawyers and, for some reason, refuses to speak with anyone else. One interview on Sky News hinted at why.
Far from a rigorous examination of his crimes and the McCann suspicions, Brueckner was given a platform to whinge that HE is the victim – that he is the one being persecuted because people won’t stop treating him like a criminal.
He refused to answer questions about Madeleine on camera, but later, in another weirdly cosy interview with the same reporter as he munched on Schnitzel, Beueckner answered “of course not” when asked if he killed Maddie.
Timeline of events
Here’s a timeline of the case which has gripped the world.
May 3, 2007
Madeleine McCann disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, sparking a massive police search and becoming one of the most famous missing persons cases in history.
January 15, 2016
Neighbour reports a possible ‘grave’ at Brueckner’s abandoned factory in East Germany.
Cops find disturbing images on USB sticks and launch a full-scale search.
February 16, 2016
Christian Brueckner is convicted of abusing a five-year-old girl in a park after images were found on his laptop.
He was sentenced to 15 months behind bars, but was already on the run by then.
May 3, 2017
Around this time, Helge B calls an information hotline after watching a ten-year anniversary special on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
He reports an alleged confession by Christian Brueckner.
September 27, 2018
On-the-run Christian Brueckner is arrested over outstanding drug claims in Italy.
He was extradited to Germany the following year.
December 16, 2019
Christian Brueckner was convicted in Germany for the 2005 rape of an American woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, after his DNA was matched to a hair found on her bed.
He was sentenced to seven years behind bars.
June 4, 2020
German prosecutors reveal to the world that they have a suspect in custody under investigation for the abduction of Madeleine McCann.
For the first time, they claim Madeleine is dead.
German media later named him Christian B (Christian Brueckner).
June 23, 2023
In his first interview, witness Helge B alleges to German newspaper Bild that Christian Brueckner all-but-confessed the Madeleine abduction to him, by allegedly saying “she didn’t scream” as they talked about the case, at a music festival, in Spain.
February 16, 2024
Brueckner goes on trial, accused of non-McCann allegations of rape and sexual assault, in Braunschweig, Germany.
Prosecutors hope for a conviction to keep him behind bars permanently and lead to McCann charges.
October 8, 2024
Brueckner was acquitted of all claims.
Prosecutors launch an appeal, however. Decision pending.
September 17, 2025
Christian Brueckner is released from custody without action being taken.
Prosecutors require an arrest warrant for a retrial over claims from last year – or over the McCann case.
But astonishing CCTV showed Brueckner at ease, arrogantly swilling a coffee as he bragged he could “solve the scandal of the century”, clearly indicating he knows more about the McCann case than he has ever let on to cops.
Showing his contempt for the justice system, Brueckner flashed his ankle tag and smirked, “Look, I’m under control now”.
He even hinted at plans to flee, asking a shop assistant if he could get a mobile phone without his ID – ensuring it could not be traced to him.
But what is Brueckner chasing?
The terrifying truth is he wants his “life back”. That was the demand he made as he tried to confront a Maddie prosecutor – a life we know was fixated on rape, sex abuse and crime.
He is a hedonist who will do anything and everything to feed his instincts – which we know includes children.
The question remains – what lengths will he go to get it? Will he leave Germany? Will he try and harness the media to rally support? Will he try and rewrite his criminal record with appeals?
Whatever he does, the intent Brueckner has shown in his first few months of freedom shows he is capable of all these.
Sadly, they will only serve to push the McCann case back further, not bring any hopes of justice forward.
