Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner had his hopes of freedom dramatically dashed yesterday.
Detectives had feared he could be let out on a technicality – but the European Court of Justice’s top lawyer advised that the German paedophile should stay behind bars.
A future ruling by the Luxembourg court’s senior judges and Germany’s Supreme Court is now regarded as a formality, and would mean Brueckner, 43, serves a seven-year term for raping a pensioner in Praia da Luz in 2005.
The advisory by advocate general Michal Bobek means Brueckner, who is in jail for drug trafficking but was due for release in January, now faces staying there until at least 2024.
The former mechanic appealed against his rape conviction last December.
He argued he should not have stood trial because he was extradited from Portugal in 2017 for another offence – sexual abuse of a minor.
But Bobek advised this was irrelevant as Brueckner left Germany while on probation in 2018.
He was arrested in Italy and extradited again under a fresh European warrant for drug trafficking.
Crucially, the Italians agreed he could be prosecuted for the rape.
Prosecutors suspect Brueckner of snatching and killing three-year-old Madeleine in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.
Germany’s Supreme Court is expected to follow ECJ advice. But Brueckner’s lawyer Frederick Fulscher said: “The decision is still completely open.”
Brueckner denies involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
