Madeleine McCann could still be ALIVE, admits German prosecutor in U-turn as he confirms there is no forensic evidence to show she is dead
- Hans Wolters said there 'may be a little bit of hope' that Madeleine is alive
- Previous assertion that Madeleine was 'killed quickly' was only 'speculation'
- Officials had earlier said that they were convinced Madeleine is no longer alive
- Prosecutors also said they knew how she died but had no idea where her body is
Madeleine McCann could still be alive, according to the German prosecutor who previously suggested she was likely to be dead.
In comments which could ignite fresh hopes for Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry that their daughter may be alive, prosecutor Hans Wolters said there was no forensic evidence to say she is dead.
This was despite officials repeatedly saying that they were convinced she is no longer alive after news emerged earlier this month of new prime suspect Christian Brueckner.
German prosecutors, who are investigating Brueckner for links to Madeleine's 2007 disappearance, had also said they knew how the little girl was killed but had no idea where her body is.
Madeleine McCann could still be alive, according to the German prosecutor Hans Wolters (left) who previously suggested she was likely to be dead. Pictured right: Paedophile Christian Brueckner, who is suspected of kidnapping Madeleine
However, speaking to the Mirror, Mr Wolters said: 'Because there is no forensic evidence there may be a little bit of hope.
'We don’t want to kill the hope and because there is no forensic evidence it may be possible.
'I am surprised the fact we say or I say Madeleine is dead is so important for the British people. '
The prosecutor added that, in Germany, it is 'normal' to assume a murder has taken place in similar cases.
Brueckner is currently in prison in Kiel, northern Germany, for drugs offences.
Mr Wolters also admitted that his previous assertion that Madeleine may have been 'killed quickly' was only 'personal opinion and speculation'.
In comments which could ignite fresh hopes for Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry that their daughter may be alive, Mr Wolters said there was no forensic evidence to say she is dead
This was despite officials repeatedly saying that they were convinced she is no longer alive after news emerged earlier this month of new prime suspect Brueckner
He said he came to the opinion 'without facts' based on experience of previous kidnapping cases.
It comes after news emerged that Portuguese police reportedly did not interview Brueckner in the weeks after the three-year-old's disappearance as they did not know that he was a convicted sex offender.
At the time of Madeline's disappearance, the German was living in the Praia da Luz resort from which she was taken.
His criminal past in Germany was not known to detectives searching for Madeleine.
While all sex offenders in the Algarve region came under suspicion and were interviewed, 43-year-old Brueckner was not among them.
German prosectuors, who are investigating Brueckner for links to Madeleine's 2007 disappearance, had also said they knew how the little girl was killed but had no idea where her body is. Pictured: Portuguese police at the the Praia da Luz resort from where Maddie disappeared
It comes after news emerged that Portuguese police reportedly did not interview Brueckner in the weeks after the three-year-old's disappearance as they did not know that he was a convicted sex offender.
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Though Brueckner had two convictions for theft and disobedience since arriving in Portugal in 1998, he was not on the radar of those searching for the youngster.
His name was included in a file sent to British police in 2011 - but only because he was a foreigner who had been jailed and not because he was linked to a sex crime.
It wasn't until Brueckner 'confessed' to a friend in a bar in Germany that he knew about Madeleine's disappearance that he became the prime suspect.
German prosecutors are convinced he killed the then three-year-old but have admitted they do not have enough evidence to charge him with murder.
Kate and Gerry McCann continue to hope that their daughter is alive
Portuguese media said EU countries did not routinely share information on all criminals in the 1990s.
Brueckner was convicted of molesting a six-year-old girl in a playground in his home town of Wurzburg, Bavaria, in 1994 when he was just 17.
He left Germany for the Algarve after serving part of a two-year youth sentence for the crime. But that conviction was unknown to police on the McCann case in 2007.
What do we know about Maddie murder suspect Christian Brueckner and his criminal past?
1976: Christian Brueckner is born in Würzburg under a different name, believed to be Fischer. He was adopted by the Brueckner family and took their surname.
1992: Christian Brueckner is arrested on suspicion of burglary in his hometown of Wurzburg, Bavaria.
1994: He is given a two-year sentence for 'abusing a child' and 'performing sex acts in front of a child'.
1995: Brueckner arrives in Portugal as an 18-year-old backpacker and begins working in catering in the seaside resorts of Lagos and Praia da Luz.
But friends say he became involved with a criminal syndicate trafficking drugs into the Algarve.
September 2005: He dons a mask and breaks into an apartment where a 72-year-old American tourist.
The victim was bound, gagged, blindfolded and whipped with a metal cane before being raped for 15 minutes. She said afterwards that he had clearly enjoyed 'torturing' her before the rape.
April 2007: He moves out of a farmhouse and into a campervan linked to the crime. The farmhouse is cleaned and a bag of wigs is found.
May 3, 2007: Madeleine McCann is snatched at around 10pm from her bed as her parents eat tapas with friends yards away.
Brueckner's mobile phone places him in the area that night. He returns to his native Germany shortly after that.
October 2011: He is sentenced to 21 months for 'dealing narcotics' in Niebüll, in northern Germany.
2014: He moves to Braunschweig where he starts running a town-centre kiosk. He then goes back to Portugal with a girlfriend.
2016: He is back in Germany. He is given 15 months in prison for 'sexual abuse of a child in the act of creating and possessing child pornographic material'.
May 3, 2017: Brueckner is said to be in a bar with a friend when a ten-year anniversary appeal following Madeleine's disappearance is shown on German television. He is said to have told him in a bar that he 'knew all about' what happened to her. He then showed his friend a video of him raping a woman.
MailOnline understands the friend went to police shortly afterwards.
June 2017: He heads back to Portugal and extradited again to Germany. The reason was a sentencing of the Braunschweig district court to 15 months' imprisonment for the sexual abuse of a child.
August 2018: After his release from prison he lives on the streets. But he was jailed again for drug offences.
First Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters addresses the media during a press conference on the Madeleine McCann case at the public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig
September 2018: Brueckner is arrested in Italy and extradited to Germany and put on trial for raping an American in 2007 after a DNA match was found at the crime scene.
July 2019: He is jailed for 21 months for drug dealing in the northern German resort of Sylt.
August 2019: Brueckner is charged with the rape of the American tourist in Praia da Luz in 2005.
December 2019: He is convicted of rape of extortion of the tourist based on DNA evidence. He is given a seven year sentence, but this has not been imposed pending an appeal.
June 3, 2020: Scotland Yard and the German police reveal that that they have identified a suspect in the Maddie McCann case
June 4, 2020: Prosecutors in Braunschweig, where he lives, say they believe Madeleine McCann has been murdered, says spokesman Hans Christian Wolters. He is named in the German press as the prime suspect.
