The main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has confronted the prosecutor who has accused him of the three-year-old’s murder in 2007, according to a report.
German national Christian Brueckner made the trip to speak to prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters just days after he was released from prison, where he had been serving a seven-year rape sentence.
The 49-year-old suspect told Sky News that he wanted the prosecutor to “take responsibility” for his treatment by the media since Mr Wolters had stated publicly that he had evidence to show that Brueckner had killed Madeleine after she went missing in Portugal in 2007.
“The prosecutor refused to meet me, but I told his representative I wanted his help to get my life back,” Brueckner, who denies any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance, told the broadcaster.
“I’m being hounded by the media, and it’s his fault. I want him to take responsibility. I was told there was nothing they could do to help. I had been convicted and released, and I wasn’t their responsibility.”
The Metropolian Police said the 49-year-old remains a suspect in its own investigation – with Portuguese and German authorities also investigating Madeleine’s disappearance.
Friedrich Fulscher, Brueckner’s lawyer, drove him from jail to local authority accommodation in the town of Neumunster, north of Hamburg, where reporters tracked him down and exposed his new address.
Residents and local politicians responded angrily, with Karin Mundt, a hard-right populist councillor, warning locals not to go out alone and calling for a public protest and for Brueckner to be removed from the town.
Days of campaigning, alongside a number of claimed sightings of Brueckner, led police to move him out of Neumunster, to a hotel in an unnamed town.
Dr Fulscher told Stern magazine that the Braunschweig public prosecutor’s office – for whom Mr Wolters works – had “fuelled this media campaign of prejudgement”.
He added: “It has told the public that it is certain it has the right person, without presenting sufficient evidence or even allowing my client to inspect the files.
“I find this highly questionable from a constitutional point of view. In my opinion, the Braunschweig public prosecutor’s office has made rehabilitation impossible.”
Mr Wolters said Brueckner’s release from prison has “no direct impact” on the investigation. Brueckner has not been charged in the case, in which he is under investigation on suspicion of murder.
As part of his release, Brueckner has had to surrender his passport and be fitted with an ankle tag.
Met police chief Sir Mark Rowley said the British investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine remains a missing person inquiry. He told journalists that the force is “taking stock” of the German and Portuguese investigations now that the prime suspect, Brueckner, has walked free from prison.
“He remains a suspect for us. We are taking stock of where we are, and the German investigation and the Portuguese investigation,” Sir Mark said.
