The main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007 has been released from prison.
Christian Brueckner, 48, was serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for an unrelated sex crime.
He was escorted out of the Sehnde prison near Hannover by police as he was driven away in the back of a black car with a blanket over his head.
German prosecutors first named Brueckner a suspect in 2020 when he was already serving his sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Portugal's Algarve region where McCann went missing.
It comes just days after the Metropolitan Police said he had refused to be interviewed by its officers.
The force previously confirmed that Brueckner is a suspect in its ongoing investigation into the McCann case.
The then-three-year-old vanished from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz while on holiday with her family in 2007, in one of the highest-profile missing person cases in history.
She was left sleeping by her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and disappeared as they went for dinner in a nearby restaurant. The couple had periodically checked on Madeleine and her younger twin siblings who had also been left sleeping.
The lead prosecutor investigating Madeleine’s disappearance Hans Christian Wolters previously told the BBC Brueckner "is not just our number one suspect, he's the only suspect".
Brueckner has been electronically tagged and his passport has been cancelled, the German newspaper Der Spiegel reported.
He is also required to declare his place of residence and is prohibited from moving without permission.
However, the electronic ankle tag will not work if he leaves Germany, it has been reported.
A number of searches have been carried out in the area where Madeleine went missing in recent years.
DCI Mark Cranwell, a senior investigating officer for the Met’s investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, said the force had requested an interview with Brueckner but he had refused.
DCI Cranwell said: “For a number of years we have worked closely with our policing colleagues in Germany and Portugal to investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and support Madeleine’s family to understand what happened on the evening of 3 May, 2007 in Praia da Luz.
“We are aware of the pending release from prison of a 49-year-old German man who has been the primary suspect in the German federal investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.
“We can confirm that this individual remains a suspect in the Metropolitan Police’s own investigation.
“We have requested an interview with this German suspect but, for legal reasons, this can only be done via an International Letter of Request which has been submitted.
“It was subsequently refused by the suspect. In the absence of an interview, we will nevertheless continue to pursue any viable lines of enquiry.”
