christian brueckner, christian b, christian brückner or in short cb, 28 june and later.

at least in wording is is simply said these 5 cases are indeed used to keep cb around for grabs in a different trial, they at the moment are not even ready to bring charges for. at least when the quotes been noted correctly and the english was used in a clear manner too. both not a given, this reporter is known for some wild stories, he is still responsible for a complete arrest team no one even seen. except former neighbour of cb anja of course.

‘Gerry McCann broke the secrecy code and ‘briefed’ me on what had really happened that night’

By David James Smith

October 9, 2024

The assertion that 47-year-old Christian Brueckner could be the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, looks a little thinner this week, with his complete acquittal on five unrelated sexual offences – two of which involved children – following a trial that began nine months ago, in February this year.

Despite the huge amount of interest around Christian Brueckner’s past, the verdicts were no great surprise. They had been anticipated since July when the presiding Judge, Uta Inse Engemann, in the German regional court of Braunschweig had ruled that there was “no longer sufficient evidence of guilt for all of the charges”.

Brueckner remains in jail, serving the final months of a seven-year sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman. That offence occurred in 2005, during a break-in at the woman’s home in the Portuguese coastal town of Praia da Luz – the same Algarve resort where Madeleine McCann disappeared two years later during a family holiday.

It is now four years since Brueckner was first named and identified as the “prime suspect” in the alleged abduction and murder of Madeleine, a few days before her 4th birthday, and longer still since he initially became a focus of investigation.

There has been intense media speculation about his links to the McCann case and these were heightened by reporting of the often lurid details during his latest trial. Engemann was alert to the risks of bias and the need to make a decision on the evidence alone.

She reportedly referred in her final remarks to the judges’ oath to serve the truth. “This oath means that we don’t have to cater to the views of the media and the table of regulars in a pub,” said Engemann.

“Everyone had heard about him in the Maddie McCann case. And they all knew that Brueckner since 2020 was always named by the public prosecutor’s office. When in the media a person is described as a sex monster and a pervert, then it influences the witness.”

Her comments brought to a close proceedings marked by sometimes ill-tempered exchanges between the prosecutor Lindemann and her court opponent, Brueckner’s defence lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher, who had complained of the prosecution tactics, attacking the judges and the defence team and being, as Fulscher put it, “particularly concerned with maximising damage” to the court and the trial.

The prosecutor had wanted a 15-year jail sentence for Brueckner. In the end, she got nothing, though there is still the opportunity for appeal.

You may think the judge was right to draw attention to the way the prosecution have sought to use the media to influence public opinion. During the BBC’s Panorama programme at the end of last year, with Brueckner’s new trial imminent, Hans Christian Wolters, the chief public prosecutor for Braunschweig, repeated his claim that “we think [Brueckner] was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and we think that he murdered Madeleine McCann.”

But if there is evidence to make such a public declaration, why hasn’t Brueckner ever been charged in Madeleine’s disappearance? And if there is no evidence, why has the prosecutor repeatedly asserted his belief in Brueckner’s guilt?

Brueckner is a German drifter with a long criminal history, including sexual offences against children. His latest trial concerned alleged incidents in Portugal, in or not far from Prai da Luz, between 2000 and 2017. There were three counts of rape and two of indecent assault against children. In one of the rapes the 20-year-old complainant’s attacker had worn a mask throughout and claimed she had recognised Brueckner, she said, by his eyes. There was evidence of a cell confession, and accounts of others who had stolen video tapes from Bruckner which they said they had watched, that depicted his attacks on two women. But the tapes were not available so the accounts could not be validated. One of the rape charges had been withdrawn before the final verdicts.

A psychiatrist, Dr Christian Riedeman, giving evidence for the prosecution, told the court that Brueckner was in “the absolute top league of dangerousness” to society and highly likely to reoffend on release. But it was then revealed the psychiatrist had not worked with or directly examined Brueckner, who had refused to see him.

Brueckner’s voice was the one missing from his trial – he never gave evidence, and only spoke once briefly at the end, when the judge asked him if he had anything he wanted to say: he was described as leaning forward and quietly stating, “no, I would not like to”

There seems little doubt that Brueckner is a habitual and manipulative violent offender. His 2019 trial and conviction for the rape of the 72-year-old in Prai da Luz, made clear the elements of his sadistic pleasure in that offence.

But, to emphasise the current position, he has never been charged in Madeleine McCann’s case and his lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher spoke on Brueckner’s behalf to last year’s Panorama, complaining of his client facing “trial by media” in what Fulscher called one of the most famous cases in the world. The evidence against Brueckner was “flimsy”, he said, and “lacking in substance”. Brueckner himself has always denied any role in Madeleine’s abduction.

“Trial by media” has a familiar and discordant ring in this case. That is exactly what Gerry and Kate McCann were subjected to over 16 years ago by Portugal’s Policia Judiciaria (PJ) – the equivalent of the CID – who began leaking outlandish claims about them to the press before finally making them arguidos – suspects – in their own daughter’s disappearance.

The details are painfully familiar. On 3 May 2007, the McCanns were holidaying in apartment 5a at the Ocean Club, Praia da Luz on the Algarve coast of southern Portugal. Unusually, it was not a gated resort but open to the town. Madeleine, who would have celebrated her fourth birthday nine days later, was sharing the back bedroom overlooking the street.

She was in one of two single beds, furthest from the window, her twin siblings (now 18) were in travel cots between the beds. While they slept, their parents were in the Tapas restaurant nearby with their friends. Madeleine disappeared in the 55 minutes between Gerry’s check at about 9.05pm and Kate’s visit at 10pm, when she discovered Madeleine was gone. One of their friends had checked about 9.30 but, agonisingly, could not be sure afterwards that Madeleine was in bed.

I went out to Praia da Luz in the summer of 2007 to report on the case and was there when it became apparent the McCanns were coming under suspicion. The events I witnessed transformed an investigation into a circus, as the world’s media turned its cameras on the McCanns arriving to be quizzed at PJ headquarters in Portimao. They had tragic and far-reaching consequences for the investigation of what had happened to Madeleine and for her parents.

As I reported at the time, the PJ – led by its misguided chief investigator Goncalo Amaral – had made a catastrophic misjudgement and “abandoned the abduction theory”, instead building an implausible case against Gerry and Kate McCann based on a misreading of DNA traces found in the boot of their car (which they had not hired until three weeks after the disappearance) and a pair of sniffer dogs brought over from the UK, whose “alerts” at the car and in the apartment were somehow – and wrongly – taken to be hard evidence.

Based on these “facts”, a theory was concocted that the couple had accidentally overdosed Madeleine with a sedative, she had died in the apartment, and they had secretly disposed of her body. Bizarrely, they offered Kate McCann a deal during her interrogation: she could admit to the crime, serve two years in prison and Gerry would be free to go home. She of course declined.

They were both doctors, on holiday with a group of friends (”The Tapas 7”), how could they have carried out such an appalling crime? Had they hidden it all from their friends, or were the friends in on the conspiracy? It made no sense then and even less now.

As the press seized on PJ leaks of reported inconsistencies in their accounts, the findings of the dogs, the DNA etc, I was often a lone exception to the general assumption that the McCanns were guilty – a phenomenon that quickly spread from Portugal to the UK. I remember arguing with an editor about their supposed role in Madeleine’s “death”. “But what about the dogs, David? The dogs don’t lie.” But they did “lie”.

The McCanns returned to England bound by “judicial secrecy” – an official code of silence – which evidently did not apply to the Portuguese side who had leaked so much, including the names and contact details of all the McCanns’ holiday group to a friendly Portuguese reporter. “The secrecy code is like the speed limit,” a local journalist told me, “Everyone knows it but no one keeps to it.”

Soon after their return, at their invitation, I travelled to the McCanns’ home in Rothley, Leicestershire, and went to the pub with Gerry McCann where we sat in a quiet corner and broke the secrecy code while he “briefed” me for two or three hours on what had really happened that night.

He took my notebook and drew a plan of the apartment showing the location and layout of the children’s bedroom and how the abductor could have gone in and out unnoticed. If people recognised him in the pub they left Gerry alone. His stress was evident but he wanted to talk and afterwards took me home where I waited in the kitchen for a taxi. Madeleine’s star chart for going to sleep well at night was pinned to the fridge.

Speaking up for the McCanns exposed me to a little of what they have been going through ever since in terms of trolling on the internet and social media. I was called a McCann “shill”, doing the couple’s “bidding”, and mocked for supposedly being a gullible investigative journalist. I described those people at the time as web ghouls, feasting on the misery of the McCann family while largely hiding behind anonymity on Twitter/X and elsewhere. In one very sad case, a woman, Brenda Leyland, revealed by Sky News as the real person behind the anonymous McCann troll Sweepyface on Twitter, took her own life. She had posted hundreds of messages attacking and accusing the McCanns. She was not the worst, by far.

Even though the McCanns were officially released from arguido status by the PJ in 2008 when it closed its investigation, the trolls have never let up. They were back out in force whenever they are back in the news – #mccann – comparing Gerry McCann to child murderers and so on. The couple have shown extraordinary resilience in all the circumstances, no doubt focused on raising Madeleine’s siblings, Amelie and Sean. Amelie attended a vigil this year on the anniversary of her sister’s disappearance.

There was never any doubt in my mind that this was a case of – as the jargon goes – stranger or non-familial child abduction and nothing to do with the parents. The McCanns, as I saw them, were then functioning at the limits of human endurance; their gaunt, strained faces speaking to a world of loss and no doubt guilt at not being there to protect their child.

They have always clung to the hope that, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, Madeleine could still be alive. As Gerry told Crimewatch during an increasingly rare public appearance in 2013, there are cases where abducted children are kept alive. No doubt he was thinking of Natascha Kampusch, among others, who escaped her abductor in 2006 –aged 18 – after being held captive in Austria for eight years.

Stranger abductions of children are very rare. They can be opportunistic and the openness of the Ocean Club could have presented the opportunity to a watchful predator, who may have observed the family’s routine and the vulnerability of their corner apartment. This week’s Panorama referenced sightings of a so-called “spotty man” and recreated scenes of him watching their accommodation.

An offender profile might well focus on local drifters, with a history of sexual offences. If only a police inquiry had dwelt on this from the beginning.

The Met Police took up the case in 2011, its Operation Grange starting from scratch and their briefings spoke of patterns of increased burglaries in Praia da Luz in the months before the McCanns arrived, and unsolved sightings of men in the vicinity before and after the disappearance. It has been reported that Christian Brueckner’s name was buried in the case files and that the PJ had made some cursory attempt to track him down before he came to the Met as a tip and they passed it onto the German authorities who opened their own investigation.

The PJ also reopened an investigation and travelled to the UK where they reportedly provided an update to Gerry McCann. Panorama said they had apologised to the McCanns for the harm its original investigation had caused. No sooner had the apology been disclosed than the truth of it was being disputed on Twitter/X.

It is certainly true that Brueckner fits what you could imagine a guilty profile would look like. He committed his first sexual offence against a child when he was still a child himself, aged 16. He appears to have been an active criminal for most of his adult life, drifting back and forth between Germany and Portugal, living in the very resort, Praia da Luz where Madeleine was taken, at the time of her abduction.

It was there in 2005 that he raped the 72-year-old woman. Searches have yielded a buried USB stick containing child pornography and he is said to have been on the phone near the Ocean Club around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance. He changed the registration of a car soon after and went on to commit other offences in Portugal and Germany.

But, as the acquittals in his latest trial show, it is a dangerous game, to assume guilt, to try and fit the suspect to the crime. That’s how miscarriages of justice occur. It is evidence that matters and answers that Gerry and Kate McCann hope for and, you may think, earnestly deserve. No doubt they are among the very many people waiting to see what will happen with Brueckner, and if the prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters will ever make the case against him in court – and not just in the media.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/madeleine-mccann-gerry-christian-brueckner-b2625987.html

so a bucket of old scrappings found in a closet.

the supposed prosecution officer on the madeleine case versus cb is vanessa beyse, not (hans) christian wolters.

witnesses no one knows about.

others then the 2 or 3 in the current cases, really two or three, it was already quite hot under the lime light, a wet upper lip was clearly visible.

so lets do some guesses.

the friend of cb in/near neuwegersleben.

the man from munnich.

the lady with the hard disk from portugal.

the undertaker called frank.

there are many more who not spoke much to the paperboys, but unknown witnesses sounded like a dare to all reporters. by that they have not to have fear, madeleine would stop paying their livery and holidays in the sun.

all other criminals who became expats in portugal, spain, and france.

i get the impression, some poor guy on the prosecution offices has as a task to buy all papers and dowenload all articles from around the globe to list all words about cb and fall maddie in scrapbooks. there must be at least a archive of that stuff that equals the complete offices of the prosecution service in braunschweig. lets hope the poor guy has not be as troubled as our admin by the ai thingy of google.

but they have more courts in braunschweig, as in buildings for the next sequel of the saga of cb, i can now see why starbucks opened a new outlet near the prosecution offices, sales guaranteed.

so more books in the pipeline of expectations, a brand new season on netflix, i hope they wait a bit, i cannot get beyond part 5.
australia a new wild 48 minutes with the unknown witness, i heard a certain writer of heavy books has one for sale.

if one of the old comedy writers from the uk had wrote this into a script and over multiple seasons, we could simply laugh our hearts out, now it feels to unrealistic to even get your mind around. all senses are lost by now.

remember this case is still about a once little girl, we want to know what happened too. i do not see much justice going her side in the german approach.

onehand wrote:remember this case is still about a once little girl, we want to know what happened too. i do not see much justice going her side in the german approach.

Amen to that!

Sadly that little girl was forgotten in all but name from the night of 3rd/4th May 2007, the callous infiltrators and commentators continue to this day playing with the name and case as if for some idle amusement.

One thing for sure it's not and never has been about the disappearance of little Madeleine McCann in isolation. It's more leaned towards social media dominance, ego maintenance and case supremacy - very sad to see such a tragedy used as a source of amusement and/or an ego trip.

At the end of the day, the tragedy happened in Portugal, thus the local judiciary were and still are, the primary investigative force - anything or anyone beyond that is secondary, even irrelevant.

Where does the question of right and wrong enter the equation, legal or illegal, fair or foul? Are all these infiltrators breaking the law, perverting the course of justice, by their interference? Skulking around the lands, setting-up surveillance devices, spying on strangers, writing outlandish theory based on nothing but a vivid imagination for the bizarre? Is that mildly stalking, or more seriously harassment - a matter for police intervention?

You see it happening more and more as days pass by, social media disrupting life on earth for the sake of amusement - or maybe something more sinister. No problem discussing a case, be it live or archived but it's not okay to rewrite history just because you think you know better. Even though never involved with the official investigation, worse still never having delved into the PJ files (in this particular case) yet allowed yourself to go with the flow, so to speak.

People should be ashamed of themselves, not puffing up their feathers and crowing about their exploits.

the diverse versions of the sun come with a story that cb wants to seek revision of his 2019 verdict in the 2005 rape case, for wrongful prosecution now helge b is diagnosed by the court as liar and untrustworthy.

and from that the sunnies get it into cb asking an amount of 200.000 pound, no idea what that woulds be in euros today.

the defence team wants indeed to seek revision in the case cb nowadays is in jail for, that was tried multiple times, but revoked because there was no new evidence to reopen the case. the sun has found an unnamed expert that thinks small chance because of the hair. still i would not bet on how secure the dna results are, i never have seen any of these results, but heared other experts say other things about how correct that is or can be.

and that is the problem with dna of course, so little people have any idea what that is all about, look at the julia who simply sees a great chance in misleading the innocent souls of stupidity well. and that are still very easy to read results. julia herself falls in her own trap, by telling they both are female in the result.

so in courts it can depend very much on the wording of the expert hired to tell its opinion. expert opinion is not the same as a scientific opinion. and it can in all field be very difficult to find consensus on all points.
without the corresponding numbers of dna results it is impossible to say what the chances are.

much research about things like contamination with dna without a presence is even from after this case. so do not sell the bearskin before you shoot the bear itself.

so it will take at least another hot autumn before we can close the chapter of the adventures of cb in all the cases he was charged for, and maybe the prosecution gets a hurry up to find charges in the madeleine case.

i lost long ago the interest in all the ones who end up not doing it in the madeleine case, i think no one will ever be prosecuted in a way that can be acceptable. time alone does that to cases, and that was why once upon a time there were limits named statute of limitations. the information to work with do not do well with time. most information comes also by humans and they simply can come out of reach, not only for the prosecution, but also for witnesses a defence need.
also there was also for a long time the hope a sol would made it possible to bring answers when there was no longer any fear for being prosecution, and answers were simply seen as more important.

but a revision of the 2005 rape case is something i agree too, it has still to much question marks hanging above it to call it a save conviction. and that does not play well for the reputation of doing justice. no answer is often better as a wrong answer.

and i learned long ago, that the question during court is not did he or she done it, but can you prove it beyond reasonable doubt. for me the very basic principle of being innocent until proven guilty in a court of law is not something you really can discuss about.

the trial of the 5 cases of this year is made into an impossible task for these judges. they did have the insight in the complete prosecution files this case was based on, they had a dual task, first to establish what was the truth and the second was cb the offender.

and if i use the words by citation in the braunschweiger zeitung, i think there is no other choice as an aquittal, the judge team had a very strong story on that;

Judge Engemann, however, is aware of the public pressure that weighs on the Braunschweig court. ‘Judges have sworn an oath. We take this oath very seriously.’ The court is not concerned with fulfilling the expectations of the media or the general public. ‘It's also not about the opinion at the regulars‘ tables,’ Engemann exclaims during her reasons for judgement. ‘We had to show the necessary objectivity in this case - just like in any other case.’
That is the absolute requirement in a constitutional state. And in case anyone in the courtroom still didn't understand, the presiding judge said: ‘Christian B. is also entitled to a careful presentation of evidence.’ As in every other case, this trial is also about ‘critically scrutinising the witnesses’. This also applies to the work of the investigators at the police, the BKA and the public prosecutor's office.
Engemann explains how untrustworthy witnesses' statements were and how they repeatedly became entangled in contradictions. In some cases, witnesses even contradicted each other. In each of the five cases that Christian B. was charged with, the house of cards collapsed more and more. The judge continued: ‘We were dealing with unreliable witnesses, some of whom deliberately lied to the court.’

Presiding judge at Braunschweig Regional Court: Too many contradictions, no evidence

Some of the witnesses, including the two main prosecution witnesses Helge B. and Manfred S., wanted to use the trial stage. Both had a deep dislike for Christian B. Of course, that also played a role. And witnesses openly admitted during the main hearing that they were able to make a living from the fees paid to them by the media. A cycle developed.
The media in general. The presiding judge Engemann mainly mentions the Bild newspaper by name. The tabloid paid Helge B. 5000 euros for an extensive interview. The ZDF programme ‘Aktenzeichen XY... unsolved’ programme also reported extensively. According to Engemann, the picture of Christian B. only became clearer and clearer as a result of the reporting, as witnesses also recognised the suspect in the Maddie case years later. In some cases, he was only recognised by his ‘blue piercing eyes’. This was the case with the raped Irish woman Hazel B. Engemann says dryly: ‘They are not conspicuous, certainly not piercing.’ The chamber could not base a judgement on this very thin evidence.

i keep looking if there is a publication of the full verdict, no luck so far.

Why Madeleine McCann’s family might never get justice after the prime suspect’s acquittal

By Kate Wills

October 9, 2024

So how did Brückner – who has more than a dozen previous convictions for burglary, theft, and sex offences – come to be acquitted?

“There were a few errors in the prosecution’s case,” claims Rob Hyde, a journalist based in Germany who has attended all of Brückner’s 31 court days. “Many of the witnesses that appeared in this trial would be the same ones called at the Maddie case, and many were former criminals convicted of selling drugs or human trafficking. There were claims that they were conspiring against each other to incriminate Brückner because of a drug deal gone wrong.”

One of those was Laurentiu Codin, a former prison mate of Brückner’s. Codin claims that the German admitted to a near-identical crime to Madeleine’s abduction when they were on remand together in 2019.

“He told me that in Portugal, he had stolen there,” Codin said. “He said there was somewhere with an open window. He was looking for money. He said he didn’t find any money but found a kid and took the child. He said that two hours later, there were police and dogs all over the place, so he then went away, out of the area. He asked me if the DNA from a child can be taken from bones under the ground. I took it seriously.”

Also giving evidence against Brückner was his former friend, Helge Büsching, 53, who also has previous convictions – including for the assault of a female beggar in Brindisi, Italy, in 2011. He allegedly tipped off police about Brückner’s involvement with Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, claiming Brückner had told him “she didn’t scream” when they discussed the case in a Spanish bar.

But one of his most startling claims was that he had seen videos of Brückner committing rape. After breaking into Brückner’s house with fellow witness Manfred Seyferth, while Brückner was in prison, the pair stole various items including cameras and video tapes which they later watched, featuring alleged attacks.

But, the defence team sought to portray Busching as an unreliable witness. Under cross examination, the BBC reported, he admitted to having drug abuse problems in between 2000 and 2010 – and he has a conviction for human trafficking.

Moreover, Ms Engemann said their testimonies contained inconsistencies on the age of the victims, their nationalities, the language they spoke, the position they were raped in and whether Brückner was involved.

Hazel Behan, 40, from Mullingar, Ireland, was another witness, waiving her right to anonymity to give evidence. She was working as a tour rep in the Algarve when she claims she was raped by Brückner in 2004. She was moved to tears when she described how her alleged attacker’s distinctive blue eyes “bored into my skull” as he raped her at knifepoint.

The mum of three alerted Scotland Yard in 2020 after Brückner was named as the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance. She noticed similarities between the attack on her in Praia da Rocha, and the rape Brückner is currently in prison for, which he carried out in nearby Praia da Luz in 2005.

But the defence claimed Hazel could not have known her attacker was Brückner, as he was wearing a mask. And, at the end of Behan’s evidence, Judge Engemann asked Brückner to come up to the front of the courtroom so that the judges could look into his eyes.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/09/madeleine-mccann-family-christian-bruckner-acquittal/

Why Madeleine McCann’s family might never get justice after the prime suspect’s acquittal

How many times have we heard that over the years relating to one prime suspect or another?

Empty words.

They're doing it again, that's to say the press and media, weaving the name Madeleine McCann into these reports.  The last nine months of gruelling (a touch of tabloid there) court appearances have nothing to do with Madeleine McCann's disappearance or anything relative to her case.

Have some respect for the child's memory and her extended family.

Maybe that's the sole purpose of the whole exercise, to make Brueckner out to be a sinister serial predator - any other similar situation would be classed as disruptive in so far as a fair trial in a court of law could never be possible, considering the extent of negative press coverage.  Could that be the reason - to ensure a case against Brueckner in connection with Madeleine McCann's disappearance never reaches a court of law, because they know full well the German's have no case to answer?  Why else would they take every opportunity to report on Brueckner's case if not to deceive?

Blah blah blah, Wolters and representatives have been repeating the same old diatribe since the news hit the press back in June 2020.  They know a lot more than they can divulge, they've got witnesses secreted away that haven't yet been heard, they've got evidence they're not able to reveal, they've got information that could put Brueckner behind bars for the rest of his life.  They are however taking their time, he's behind bars so won't be going anywhere before next year or the year after that, if ever (depending on which tabloid you read) - no rush, they want to be sure of a water tight case before proceeding.

What a load of old tosh.

In addition the name is never far from social media - hmmmm ....

'Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!'
Sir Walter Scott

Whatever the truth may or may not be, this will haunt the parents Gerry and Kate McCann until their last breath on earth.

Being the part time devout Catholics they profane to be, they can only hope the good lord looks on them more kindly - unless they've already been to confession and asked for forgiveness.

As per the norm, tabloid world is making a meal ticket out of the latest unrelated news of Christian Brueckner.  The tabloid press has such a way with words, some might say poetic but the more discerning will say manipulative.

It's make your mind up time..

'wrong verdict' | Lawyer for Maddie McCann suspect Christian Brueckner takes swipe at missing tot’s parents

“I think in the UK there are still quite a lot of people who think that the parents were involved in the Maddie case”

Neil Fetherstonhaugh
Yesterday at 09:10

The lawyer for Christian Brueckner has taken a swipe at Madeleine McCann's parents, saying, “there are a lot of people who think they were involved in the Maddie case”.

Brueckner was cleared of rape charges in Germany this week following a high-profile trial.

Philipp Marquardt, a member of the German paedophile's defence team, was speaking after Brueckner was cleared at the court in Brunswick of three charges of aggravated rape and two of sexual abuse of children.

The charges, including one in which he was accused of entering an Irish woman's apartment via her balcony while she was sleeping, threatening her with a knife and raping her several times, are unconnected to the long-running Madeleine case, which he strenuously denies any involvement in.

However, Marquardt described the outcome of the trial as “very interesting” for those who believe the toddler's parents were involved in her disappearance.

“I think in the UK there are still quite a lot of people who think that the parents were involved in the Maddie case so from this point of view I think today's verdict will be very interesting for them,” he said in court, according to The Times.

Kate and Gerry McCann had been named as suspects by Portuguese police In September 2007, four months after Madeleine vanished.

The couple were questioned by detectives after forensic examinations revealed traces of the three-year-old's blood in a car they rented 25 days after their daughter's disappearance.

It was initially suspected that the couple could have staged an abduction and concealed Madeleine's body. Kate McCann said she was offered a deal to admit covering up her daughter's death in exchange for a shorter sentence.

The couple's suspect status was lifted in 2008 although they were later forced to a take a failed libel case against Goncalo Amaral, the senior detective who led the investigation, after he accused them of being involved in their daughter's disappearance in a book he wrote.

Madeleine who went missing on May 3, 2007 at the age of just three has never been found.

Brueckner, who has been named by German prosecutors as their chief suspect in her disappearance, is currently serving a rape sentence that runs until September 2025.

German prosecutors have acknowledged that the clock is now ticking to bring charges after Brueckner was found not guilty on five different counts of sex crimes yesterday.

Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who declared Brueckner as the chief suspect in the Madeleine case, told MailOnline: “We believe that the ruling is wrong, so we will appeal to the German Supreme Court.”

Mr Wolters said they are adamant that Christian Brueckner “is our only main suspect”.

“But yes, the clock is ticking for us, we need to move fast because if he is free and he leaves the country and goes somewhere with no extradition then there is nothing we can do,” he admitted.

'We are convinced that Madeleine is dead and that Christian Brueckner is responsible. He went to the hotel, took her and killed her but we have no body.”

The charges of which Brueckner was acquitted yesterday came about as a result of investigations into the 'Maddie' case, according to prosecutors.

In one of the cases, prosecutors had accused Brueckner of entering the holiday apartment of a woman aged between 70 and 80, tying her up and beating and sexually assaulting her.

In another case, he had been accused of entering a young Irish woman's apartment via her balcony while she was sleeping, threatening her with a knife and raping her several times.

He had also been accused of exposing himself in front of a 10-year-old German girl on a beach and to an 11-year-old Portuguese girl at a playground.

But the defence raised serious doubts about the cases against Brueckner, which were based on testimonies but not forensic evidence.

Brueckner’s main lawyer, Friedrich Fuelscher, insisted that his client should never have been charged with vile sex crimes.

In his closing remarks at the courthouse in Braunschweig yesterday, Fuelscher hinted that the convicted rapist and paedophile was only on trial because of his link with Madeleine's internationally recognised case.

https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/world-crime/lawyer-for-maddie-mccann-suspect-christian-brueckner-takes-swipe-at-missing-tots-parents/a301203304.html

Sunday world?  There was I thinking it Friday!

The lawyer for Christian Brueckner has taken a swipe at Madeleine McCann's parents, saying, “there are a lot of people who think they were involved in the Maddie case”.

But the defence raised serious doubts about the cases against Brueckner, which were based on testimonies but not forensic evidence.

Brueckner’s main lawyer, Friedrich Fuelscher, insisted that his client should never have been charged with vile sex crimes.

In his closing remarks at the courthouse in Braunschweig yesterday, Fuelscher hinted that the convicted rapist and paedophile was only on trial because of his link with Madeleine's internationally recognised case.

That's not taking a swipe Messrs Sunday World, they are statements of the truth.

Christian Brueckner has been all but hanged drawn and quartered for a crime he didn't commit, nor have any involvement.

Read the files:  http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/

Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner 'is plotting way to get an early release and £200,000 in damages' after being cleared of rape charges

By Ryan Prosser

October 9, 2024

Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner is said to be fighting to be released early from prison and for £200,000 in damages.

The paedophile was cleared this week of his 2019 conviction for raping an American woman in the Algarve, Portugal.

Prosecutors for Madeleine have said they have evidence on the convicted rapist - but admitted the clock is now ticking to bring charges after he was found not guilty on five different counts of sex crimes on Tuesday.

Brueckner is currently scheduled to be released in September 2025, but the German is planning an appeal against the conviction keeping him behind bars.

A legal source reportedly told the Sun that although an appeal would take time, there was a possibility that Brueckner would be released sooner.

'Brueckner’s lawyer said in court he did not believe the 2019 conviction was safe and after a witness was discredited', the insider said.

They added that an early end to his sentence would give Brueckner ammunition to apply for compensation.
Brueckner had been accused of three rapes and two child sex abuse cases between 2000 and 2017 in Portugal, close to the resort where Madeleine vanished.

He has denied any involvement in the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine in Praia da Luz, Portugal and has yet to be charged in relation to the incident, despite being identified as a key suspect in 2020.

In one of the rape cases, Brueckner of entering the holiday apartment of a woman aged between 70 and 80, tying her up and beating and sexually assaulting her.

He was also charged with entering a young Irish woman's apartment via her balcony while she was sleeping, threatening her with a knife and raping her several times.

In another case he was alleged to have exposed himself in front of a 10-year-old German girl on a beach and to an 11-year-old Portuguese girl at a playground.

But Brueckner's legal team raised concerns that cases against him were based on testimony rather than forensic evidence.

His main lawyer, Friedrich Fuelscher, suggested the German was only on trial because of his links to the Madeleine case, during his closing remarks at the courthouse in Braunschweig on Tuesday.

Wrongly imprisoned inmates in Germany can be awarded as much as £63 per day in jail.

It comes as Brueckner's lawyers also took a cruel dig at Madeleine's parents as a member of his defence team suggested the outcome of the trial would be 'very interesting' for those who believe the toddler's parents were involved in her abduction.

Philipp Marquardt said: 'I think in the UK there are still quite a lot of people who think that the parents were involved in the Maddie case so from this point of view I think today's verdict will be very interesting for them.'

The focus on Madeleine's parents came after forensic examinations revealed traces of the three-year-old's blood in a car they rented 25 days after their daughter's disappearance.

Mother Kate McCann told detectives there was 'no way' Madeleine's blood could have been found inside the car and continued to protest her innocence.

The parents were named as suspects in 2007 - four months after Madeleine disappeared. Their suspect status was lifted in 2008.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13943615/Madeleine-McCann-suspect-Christian-Brueckner-plotting-early-release-damages-cleared-rape.html

Plotting!  Plotting !?!

That is for the legal profession to decide, not Brueckner.  If Brueckner or anyone else, has been wrongly accused or convicted of a crime they didn't commit, then £200,000 (from whence did that figure spring forth?) is the least they can do by way of compensation and immediate, not early, release from incarceration!

I've seen this kind of word manipulation so often across mainstream and social media over the years, it's most unhelpful.  Think of all the wrongly convicted over the centuries because of idle hands, worse still since the advent of the internet where the spreading of misinformation and disinformation is of pandemic proportions.

How can justice ever prevail when the press and media take control - trial by baying mobsters?  It makes a mockery of the justice system.

A court in Germany has acquitted Christian Brueckner, the only suspect in the disappearance of Maddie McCann, on unrelated rape and sexual ...
CBS News

The only suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann?

On whose say so?

There is no evidence nor intelligence to suggest Christian Brueckner was in any way involved with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.  Some might have a short memory or just a wish to grab the latest but those who have followed this particular case will recall how many times we've been this way before.  No one would ever have heard the name Christian Brueckner (unless with a vested interest in his alleged past crimes) if not for linking it with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

This has been dragging on for well over 4 years and looks to continue.

Prime suspect after prime suspect come and gone and here we are - again, meanwhile forgetting intentionally or otherwise, the basics of the case.

The parents McCann were considered to be the prime suspects in the disappearance of their little daughter, Madeleine.  That is not a myth, it's a fact documented for all the read for themselves, if they have difficulty believing.  The Portuguese arguida status was theoretically removed from their names because there was insufficient evidence and/or intelligence to move the case forward, immediately after both being named arguida, they scarpered back to the UK with their remaining 2 children.  The rest is history you might say.

That must tell you something.

Read the files:  http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/

they get the number from a bit of loose counting, because they found the compensation for doing jail time on a wrongful conviction would be about 63 pounds, so it just guess work, it can happen often it don't.

maybe they have to knock of a bit for bed and breakfast and taking in habituation in a facility.

all future poetry at best.

christian w. has not yet put anything out on the website of his prosecution series, he already lost the hans in front of his name. it can go still all ways, it is just wait and see.

for the curious minds it is this time nice that they have pretty short turnover times for putting an appeal in. but officially i do not see anything active up on the website at all. they are still busy with getting a new head in.

i was curious if there was also a press conference in german, nothing, but we already know english is not his thing, i have that little thought in that he would not say it as bold in german as he did in english.

Earlier today I was watching a short video where Wolters was discussing recent events in very broken English.

Again there was that veiled wry smile appearing mid sentence.

Curious.

was that the one from the sun i think, with the wet upperlip. and it was already quite sad, he even had a go at the hairdresser.

he probably had rehearsed a very different story. and lost himself in the dream of translation errors. again.

that big mirror in his offices cannot be their standing idle.

Who is Rob Pattinson's informer I ask myself, another waste of mineral water and another soggy keyboard.  You couldn't make it up could you - oh but wait..

‘Top Madeleine McCann suspect’ Christian Brueckner ‘may flee to CUBA’ if he’s not charged quickly over her disappearance

By Rob Pattinson

October 11, 2024

Paedophile Christian Brueckner, 47, was sensationally cleared of a string of rape and child abuse allegations in court - putting him on the path to freedom.

Brueckner remains in prison due to a 2019 conviction for rape although The Sun understands that runs out next September.

If he settles an outstanding £1,000 fine he will be released then.

It means under German law he could be back on the streets on day release within just weeks or months, despite a psychiatrist rating him as “top league of dangerousness”.

The investigators working on the acquitted allegations are the same people trying to crack the Madeleine McCann case.

German officials are desperate to keep the man behind bars with investigators still labelling Brueckner as the prime suspect in McCann's disappearance.

Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told The Sun "the clock is ticking".

With German journalist Jutta Rabe also saying the prosecution must speed up their investigations around Maddie to keep him locked up.

Those working to link Brueckner to the infamous case are now left with just two options as time continues to run out.

They can appeal the case which saw him acquitted of several allegations of rape and sexual crimes which is unrelated to McCann's.

This will likely see them go directly to the Supreme Court - Germany's highest court - to file the appeal.

Jutta believes the prosecutors will appeal the decision due to the judge's strict outlook over the minor discrepancies.

She says they will say the trial did not apply the correct rules per German legal practice rather than directly appeal the verdict.

If the Supreme Court agrees then a complete retrial will be called with the witnesses reexamined at a different court.

This will keep Brueckner in jail on a fresh arrest warrant.

Or they can begin proceedings against him in regards to McCann and officially name the accusations they believe will result in him being found guilty following a trial.

This will see a two decade hunt finally made public will all the files of evidence opened up.

Some witnesses from the first trial will be called up once again as well as some new and unheard from people who will testify against Brueckner.

Prosecutors can go ahead with this at any moment due to the sheer body of work they have built up overtime.

For the first time people will hear what prosecutors believe actually happened to Maddie in the Algarve all those years ago should it go to a trial.

If charges are officially made against Brueckner then he will have an arrest warrant placed on him and meaning he stays behind bars.

Even though Brueckner was acquitted for a multitude of charges Jutta still says it has provided a huge opportunity for prosecutors.

And has helped them get closer to finally getting justice for the McCann family after all these yesrs.

https://www.thesun.ie/news/13989687/madeleine-mccann-christian-brueckner-flee-cuba/

Oh well, if Jutta Rabe says so then so be it!

Christian Brueckner is still ranking top dog of the greatest show on earth, strange when you think an internet platform that uses the name Madeleine McCann in its title, makes such a hornpipe jig of a nine month court trial that has no connection to the missing little child.  Indeed, it's been the focal point for over four years.  There has to be an explanation for this enigma - surely?

Of course the name Christian Brueckner will be discussed as he's been named every given opportunity in connection with little Madeleine McCann's disappearance.  Its not wrong nor bad to try and make sense of the press and media reports that spread negativity and hopefully dismantle the rubbish they publish - for the sake of reason.  This however goes way beyond reason, there is an element out there whose sole purpose appears to be keeping the name afloat, no matter what.  If purporting to be the voice of justice in the name of a little missing child, why concentrate all you time and efforts promoting press and media claims about an irrelevance?

Makes you wonder why such a voice, or voices are so readily accepted on a long established MBM platform - even given a badge of honour for talking nonsense!  An imposter, a charlatan, a poseur, in their home of happy clappers - so readily accepted as a voice/s to be heard above all others (well almost!).  Saying the right things to the right people maybe, a sort of bum licking initiative?

Generally people don't like it when you try to steer debate and observations from irrelevancies back to fact, evidence and police intelligence, they prefer to wander off into the realms of fantasy rather than stick with the extensive detail contained within the PJ files, published in the public domain.

Why?

Do they feel the documented investigation undertaken by the Portuguese Judiciary to be inadequate, insufficient to get an overall perception of detail?  Do they consider the case coordinator and his team to be bungling wine swilling sardine munching buffoons from some third world country, operating under the strictest rule of corruption and incompetence, like some press and media have portrayed over the years?  That's how it appears to the outsider.

Try to challenge the false information presented across some social media platforms, the more established variety, you are pounced upon from the greatest height for daring to challenge the platforms accepted narrative.  They talk the talk of course, how moderate they are, how they welcome all member views without bias, how they welcome challenge to make them think outside the box - a free thinking group for all, with no intolerance and little or no moderation but if you persist, that's to say don't scuttle back down your hole and be quiet, the intolerance rears it's ugly head and you are no longer welcome.  Stay at your peril!

WOW!  How dare you!

Still all's fair in love and war!  There are always exceptions to the general rule, those early recruits who have earned the badge of honour by pure dedication and love for one another - if lucky (?) enough to be one of the kind, you are allowed to stay and express yourself without criticism nor censure - nor restraint it would seem.  

Moral:  If you don't want to miss the boat, get there very early and stand at the front of the gang plank, no matter what.  Ooops, too late - you missed the boat, it sailed some many years ago and has been floating overloaded with heavy ballast mid-ocean ever since.  Something's got to keep the old tub afloat because reasoned debate it is not!

Bit pointless really isn't it, to join a group of happy clappers that is so tolerant you are expected to agree with everything they put forward, without daring to offer alternative views - even if those views are based on fact, truth, reality and evidence.  Such reasoned talk is unacceptable - you will be, if not immediately, eventually given the order of the boot - or stuck in the revolving door at the entrance!

Who cares, here today gone tomorrow - no one is indispensable in life.  These little platforms hidden to all but a few diehards, think themselves so superior and so important they can change the world.

Dream on ....

If there be any truth in this report, the woman concerned should be cautioned..

Irish woman Hazel Behan would like to see Christian Brueckner put on trial for Madeleine McCann disappearance


Hazel Behan previously discussed her ordeal on The Late Late Show.

Irish woman Hazel Behan would like to see Christian Brueckner, who was acquitted by a German court of sex offences last week, tried for the disappearance of toddler Madeleine McCann.

German national Mr Brueckner had been charged with three counts of rape and two counts of sexual abuse, with the court hearing testimony from Ms Behan, who testified that she was threatened and raped by a man who broke into her Algarve apartment in 2004 and she believed Mr Brueckner was the perpetrator.

Brueckner was also accused of raping a teenage girl in his Praia da Luz home and raping an elderly woman in her holiday apartment. He faced charges for allegedly exposing himself to a German girl on a beach in Salema in April 2007 and an alleged indecent exposure in front of an 11-year-old in 2017.

He had been on trial since February over the offences he is alleged to have committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

He was fully acquitted last week after an eight-month trial, with the judge presiding over the case telling the court that there was insufficient evidence to convict Mr Brueckner.

Prosecutors have said they will appeal the verdict at the Federal Court of Justice to seek a retrial Mr Brueckner, who is considered the chief suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann from a resort in Praia de Luz in May 2007.

Speaking to the Irish Sun, Ms Behan said she hopes he is tried for the young girl’s disappearance as she “deserves justice”.

"Her family absolutely deserve justice. I would want to see Brueckner in court over Madeleine. Try the case,” she said.

She added that while she is not familiar with the details of the case, she would like to see justice done for the missing toddler.

"At the end of the day, and people need to peel it back, this is a little girl. A life. Like, a person. And if Christian Brueckner is the person that committed that crime against her, he needs to pay for that.

"If he is the last person that little girl saw, I feel very, very sad about that. Because I know the person that he was with me. And there’s no way I would wish that on a little girl.”

In May, Ms Behan, who is originally from Westmeath, told Brueckner’s trial she felt a “fear that I could never ever put into words” after being woken by a masked stranger who carried out the attack on her in 2004.

She told The Irish Sun that the process of cross-examination was “really tough”, but that she was “proud” to have faced Mr Brueckner in court.

In delivering the verdict, Judge Engemann said the evidence “was not enough” to convict Mr Brueckner, who is currently serving a seven-year sentence for an unrelated rape charge and could now be released from prison next September.

He was convicted in 2019 for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal in 2005.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/irish-woman-hazel-behan-would-like-to-see-christian-brueckner-put-on-trial-for-madeleine-mccann-disappearance/a498556059.html

Who pays the ferryman?

Poor me, woe woe and thrice woe!

It might feel you've been let down by the judicial system, you might feel betrayed by society but the law it is and society must live by that law.

Twist and turn, say what you like but without that all important factor - 'evidence' you hit a brick (pardon the inference) wall.

This alleged incident took place about 20 years ago, meanwhile she's settled down with a significant other and children of her own. It doesn't pay to dwell on the past but it pays handsomely to relive that past - over and over again.

People generally come to terms with past horrors, although perhaps never forgotten there is always room for a brighter future.

Hazel Behan's words do not always ring true, there's too much drama for the realistic portrayal of a victim but be her words true or not, there is no apparent evidence to lead to a conviction.

There doesn't appear to be any evidence to lead to the conviction of Christian Brueckner as regards the disappearance of little Madeleine McCann.

To suggest a lost child deserves justice would be acceptable if there was evidence of foul play but as it stands, that evidence is severely lacking. The most likely scenario was a tragic accident that needed to be covered-up for whatever reason - reputation management, career preservation .... panic? Such a circumstance does not require justice for the victim, the truth is enough to move forward. Stripping the case of all the drama and hypothesis - the armchair detective interference, what is left? Yes, that's correct - the original Portuguese investigation, documented for all to read.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/

Ms Behan's testimony appears to hinge only on the piercing blue eyes she recalls with such emphasis, hardly enough to condemn someone to prison - is it?

The entire story comes across as nothing but an attempt to condemn Christian Brueckner to eternal damnation. Why else would it come to light at the same time as the name Christian Brueckner hit the headlines back in June 2020? Why else is the man's name being kept top of the pile in connection with Madeleine McCann's disappearance?

If the man is found guilty, by a court of law, for any of the offences heaped on his head then so be it, it is not for members of the public to decide the future of anyone! Ever heard the expression 'innocent until proven guilty'?

Who pays the ferryman?

Now it it anticipated by the press and media, Christian Brueckner will flee Germany when freed from jail - this year next year sometime never, depending which source takes your fancy. Thus escape justice (that word again!) in connection with the case of Madeleine McCann - apparently!

Simple solution! The German authorities have conclusive evidence of Brueckner's involvement - apparently, so act on it rather than sitting on the laurels waiting for 'the right time'. What does that even mean in terms of the law? Have you got solid evidence or not?

This is just hype.