The Metropolitan Police is pushing for Madeline McCann suspect Christian Brueckner to be extradited to the UK to be charged in her disappearance.
This comes as Brueckner was released from a German prison in September for an unrelated rape crime.
How Could Brueckner be Extradited?
As the UK is no longer a member of the EU there are a few hurdles that have to be passed before Brueckner can be extradited.
'Next year marks 20 years since Madeleine McCann went missing. If the evidence is strong enough to extradite the prime suspect and try him here, that is what we would seek to do,' the Scotland Yard insider said to the Telegraph.
'Clearly, there are numerous hurdles but our priority at the moment is to amass the strongest evidence we can against that prime suspect.'
A possibility is that British and German police could hand the evidence to Portuguese authorities, which, as an EU state, could extradite Brueckner.
Nick Vamos, the former head of extradition at the CPS, said: 'Germany participates in the streamlined EU-wide extradition arrangements with the UK that were agreed after Brexit.'
'However, Germany is one of 10 EU countries that chose to impose a 'nationality bar' and refuses to extradite its own citizens,' Vamos said.
'This is a constitutional bar under German law so cannot be lifted or waived however serious the offence or strong the evidence.'
'Brueckner could still be extradited to the UK if he left Germany, or to Portugal if the authorities there chose to prosecute him. It would be open to the Met Police to share evidence with the Portuguese for this purpose,' Vamos continued.
Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Police Commissioner, confirmed last year that the force was looking into whether it could be possible to extradite Brueckner.
'One of the reasons we are involved is that murder is in many situations extraterritorial and potentially a murder of a British subject can in certain circumstances be charged in the UK,' Rowley said.
Who Is Madeline McCann and What Happened to Her?
Madeline McCann was on vacation at the resort town of Praia da Luz in the south of Portugal when she disappeared from her bed while her parents and some friends were eating at a Tapas restaurant in the resort.
What has followed is a near 20 year search for what happened to Madeline even though German prosecutors believe that she was kidnapped and is now dead.
Before Brueckner many suspects including Madeline's own parents were considered by British and Portuguese police.
Is there any Publicly Available Evidence Against Brueckner?
'Searches of a property linked to Brueckner in 2016 unearthed a cache of disturbing paedophilic material, as well as diaries describing fantasies about abducting children,' according to the Telegraph.
Brueckner also re-registered his car to a friend the day after Madeleine disappeared, which police considered highly suspicious.
In 2005, he raped an American pensioner in an apartment in Praia da Luz, which he was subsequently jailed for seven years.
Brueckner has denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
