Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner LAUGHED at jokes that he was hiding the missing girl in his cellar, and mocked German police after he was called in for questioning, ex friend reveals
- Brueckner was summoned by police while living in Braunschweig in 2013
- He boasted to friends police had no evidence on him in relation to McCann
- His former friend says Brueckner seemed to have rehearsed what he was saying
A former friend of Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner said the German laughed at jokes about keeping the missing girl in his cellar.
He said Brueckner, 43, waved around a police summons about Madeleine's disappearance when he was living in Braunschweig, near Hanover, in 2013.
Brueckner laughed when friends joked about him keeping her in his basement and boasted the police had no evidence on him, the former friend claimed.
A former friend of Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Bruckner (left) says the German laughed at jokes he was hiding the missing girl in his basement. He said Brueckner, 43, waved around a police summons about Madeleine's (right) disappearance when he was living in Braunschweig, near Hanover, Germany
Brueckner was living in Braunschweig, Germany, when he was summoned for questioning by German police in 2013
Share this article
The former friend who now says he is 'disgusted' by Brueckner recalled the German waving around a legal document sent by German police.
He said: 'He laughed about it and said it was a summons. He was just waving this piece of paper about. I felt like it was like a little trophy to him.
'After a couple of weeks we started winding him up about it saying "Maddie’s downstairs in the cellar. Come on Christian get Maddie out of the cellar".
'He’d smirk and laugh and then say "leave me alone, leave me alone",' the friend told The Mirror.
A former friend who now says he is 'disgusted' by Brueckner recalled the German boasting German police had no evidence when they summoned him for questioning
The former friend said Brueckner appeared to have rehearsed what he was saying while denying his involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
He said it now feels like the German police did not take the case seriously enough at the time.
Police revealed they told the suspect he was being investigated in relation to the case before interviewing him, giving him the chance to dispose of evidence.
Serafim Vieira (pictured) Portuguese lawyer of Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner, branded his client a ‘psychopath’
The revelations come after Brueckner's former lawyer branded his client a ‘psychopath’ who ‘may be behind’ the youngster’s disappearance.
Serafim Vieira represented the German drifter when he was arrested for stealing diesel from trucks in 2006 – the year before the youngster vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.
The respected advocate was appointed by the Portuguese state to represent Brueckner at the Portimao Criminal Court because he could not afford to pay for a lawyer.
The German – who revealed his past crimes of the sexual assault and abuse of children and burglary to the judge - was found guilty of theft and fined and served eight months in jail.
Speaking to MailOnline Mr Vieira said: ‘I will not surprised if Christian Brueckner is found guilty of the murder of Madeleine McCann.
‘If it was Brueckner that kidnapped her I hope he will be made an example of. He must pay for what he did.
‘I believe it could have been Brueckner because of the circumstances and what I learned about him.’
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.
