Christian Brueckner has admitted he was just 150 yards from the McCann family holiday apartment on the night Madeleine vanished.
The convicted rapist, 49, who remains the prime suspect in the German and British investigations into the three-year-old’s 2007 disappearance, revealed his proximity to the scene in a new interview with the Mail. Brueckner, who was freed from jail last September after serving seven years for the rape of an elderly woman, had previously denied any involvement in the case.
“I was on the beach, not far from Maddie’s hotel, selling drugs,” he said. “I’d been in Spain and smuggled the weed into Portugal.”
He elaborated on his movements that evening, claiming police stopped him three times while he was attempting to leave the area. “I was even stopped by police three times on the street [in Praia da Luz] while they were looking for Maddie,” he continued. “Luckily, they didn’t find the drugs. My van was full of them.”
Brueckner described the escalating police presence as officers flooded the Portuguese resort following the report of Madeleine’s disappearance. “I was making a quick getaway; there were flashing blue lights and checkpoints everywhere,” he added. “I just thought, ‘Get me out of here’.”
The German national explained he had remained silent about his whereabouts because he believed authorities were targeting him. He said he hadn’t spoken out before “because the police want to frame me for the Maddie thing.”
The admission marks a significant shift from Brueckner’s previous denials of any connection to the case. He spent time in the Algarve region between 2000 and 2017, and investigators previously discovered photographs and videos of him near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz. Searches were carried out near that reservoir in 2023, while the latest police search occurred near the Portuguese municipality of Lagos in June 2025.
German, Portuguese and British authorities have conducted multiple searches since Madeleine disappeared from her family’s ground-floor apartment while her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined at a nearby restaurant. British police maintain their own investigation, which remains classified as a missing persons inquiry rather than a murder investigation.
The revelations coincide with reports that Brueckner is working on a memoir. Reports said that he has approached at least one professional writer to assist with a first draft, with plans to publish in both German and English.
An insider quoted by the outlet said: “Brueckner is desperate to tell his side of the story. He believes that writing about his innocence will help him.” The source added that Brueckner also viewed the project as a potential source of income: “Ultimately he also sees it as a way to help him financially.”
Brueckner has never been formally charged in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance, though he remains the central figure in both the German and British investigations.
