German Court Acquits Suspect in McCann Case of Unrelated Sexual Abuse Charges

This week, a court in Brunswick, Germany, acquitted a suspect in the high-profile disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, on unrelated sexual abuse charges.

The Trial of Christian Brueckner

The suspect, Christian Brueckner, has been formally identified as a suspect in the disappearance of McCann, who vanished from her bedroom in 2007 during a family holiday
in Portugal. Brueckner denies any involvement in the case.

Brueckner, a convicted child abuser and drug trader, is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping a woman in the Algarve region of Portugal, where McCann went missing. His sentence is scheduled to end in September 2025.

The Charges Against Brueckner

In the trial in Brunswick, which began in February, Brueckner faced multiple charges of aggravated rape and sexual abuse of children committed between 2000 and 2017. Prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence for the German national, while his lawyer advocated for his acquittal, claiming that the trial was a result of his connections to the
McCann case. The disappearance of McCann, then aged 3, occurred in May 2007 while her parents were dining with friends in the Praia
da Luz resort.