The German suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has for the first time denied abducting the British toddler.
Christian Brueckner’s lawyer Friedrich Fulscher made the revelation yesterday after speaking to the convicted rapist, who is in solitary confinement in a German jail.
But he refused to say anything further as it emerged police found items of children’s clothing, including several girls’ swimsuits, in a Tiffin Allegro motorhome that Brueckner used in Germany.
Six USB sticks with 8000 child abuse images were also found at his derelict home in Germany.
Fulscher was asked directly if his client had anything to do with Madeleine’s abduction. He said Brueckner “denied any involvement”.
The existence of the motorhome was revealed in a German TV documentary on Monday night. It was never seen in Portugal, where Brueckner had a campervan and a Jaguar.
Meanwhile in Portugal, friends of Madeleine’s parents claimed German police are “playing games” with them by not revealing what evidence they have that she is no longer alive.
German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters confirmed he had written to the couple to say Madeleine is dead – but without revealing how he knows.
The McCanns said they had not yet received the letter.
But a source close to Kate and Gerry slammed the prosecutor, saying the time had come to tell the McCanns what they know.
The source said: “It’s like Hans Christian Wolters is playing funny games with the McCanns without being funny.
“If this German prosecutor is insistent in his belief that Madeleine is dead, it’s time her parents were told what the evidence is.”
Kate and Gerry, of Rothley, Leicestershire, have remained silent on the row between police forces involved in the investigation.
But it is very unusual for a close associate of the couple to criticise investigators in this way – and highlights their frustration.
Portuguese authorities have begged criminal pals of Brueckner, 43, to come forward,promising them immunity from prosecution.
It comes as it emerged Brueckner could be released on July 17 if the European Court of Justice (ECJ) overturns his conviction for raping a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz, the resort where Madeleine vanished in May 2007, aged three.
He is challenging the conviction because German police extradited him from Portugal for a separate drugs conviction, but then put him on trial for rape.
His lawyers are arguing that this was illegal.
The ruling is set to be made on July 16 in a hearing that has been fast-tracked because of the unusual circumstances of the case. There are three potential outcomes of any ECJ ruling.
The first is that the Portuguese could give retrospective permission for the extradition on the rape charge, so that the conviction stands and Brueckner stays inside for his seven-year sentence.
The second is that the ECJ could order a retrial of the rape.
The third possibility is that the judge could rule there should not have been a trial, the conviction is overturned, Brueckner is released and he cannot be rearrested.
Wolters stressed this was a worst-case scenario and he did not expect this to happen.
Brueckner is also under investigation for the rape and murder of a 13-year-old boy in Frankfurt.
Tristan Brubach’s body was found in an underpass near a train station. He had been beaten unconscious, strangled, raped and tortured.
