Police in Portugal have reopened their investigation into the unsolved rape of an Irish woman who may have been attacked by the Madeleine McCann prime suspect.
Hazel Behan, 37, said she believes her attacker was Christian Brueckner, named last month in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance in May 2007.
He was convicted of a similar rape just a year after Hazel was attacked in 2004 and two years before Madeleine vanished from the resort of Praia da Luz.
Hazel says they failed to properly investigate the attack first time around. One problem they now face is vital DNA evidence was destroyed on the orders of a judge, usual in Portugal when no suspect is identified.
The probe into Maddie’s disappearance was back into the spotlight last month when police said they had proof Brueckner was in Praia da Luz on the night she went missing.
Hazel read about his conviction for raping an American woman in strikingly similar circumstances to the attack she suffered – and contacted Scotland Yard.
As a 20-year-old holiday rep she was raped repeatedly by a masked man who broke into her apartment, held a knife to her throat, tied her up and gagged her.
She says he was slim, with blonde hair, blue eyes and possibly German.
Met detectives interviewed Hazel and passed on the details to their Portuguese counterparts, sparking the reopening of her case.
