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The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has refused to be interviewed by the Metropolitan police before his pending release from prison in Germany, the force has said.
The Met confirmed it had submitted a formal international request to question Christian Brueckner, the 49-year-old German national who has long been under investigation in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance, but the suspect declined.
Madeleine went missing in 2007 from a holiday apartment in the Portuguese resort of Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, shortly after being put to bed by her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, while they dined with friends at a nearby restaurant. She was three years old.
Brueckner remains a suspect in Scotland Yard’s Operation Grange inquiry, which continues alongside investigations led by German and Portuguese authorities. Police in all three countries have carried out searches in Portugal over the years, most recently near the municipality of Lagos in June 2023. Investigators have also combed areas around the Barragem do Arade reservoir, 30 miles from Praia da Luz, where Brueckner was known to have spent time.
DCI Mark Cranwell, the senior investigating officer for Operation Grange, said officers would continue their work despite the suspect’s refusal to cooperate.
“For a number of years we have worked closely with our policing colleagues in Germany and Portugal to investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and support Madeleine’s family to understand what happened on the evening of 3 May 2007 in Praia da Luz,” Cranwell said.
“We are aware of the pending release from prison of a 49-year-old German man who has been the primary suspect in the German federal investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance. We can confirm that this individual remains a suspect in the Metropolitan police’s own investigation.
“We have requested an interview with this German suspect but, for legal reasons, this can only be done via an international letter of request which has been submitted. It was subsequently refused.
“In the absence of an interview, we will nevertheless continue to pursue any viable lines of inquiry. We can provide no further information while the investigation is ongoing.”
Brueckner is serving a seven-year sentence in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005 and could be released on Wednesday. He has consistently denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
Between 2000 and 2017, Brueckner lived intermittently in southern Portugal, and prosecutors have confirmed he was in the Algarve around the time Madeleine vanished. German authorities have described him as their chief suspect, though he has not been charged in connection with the case.
Last October, a German court acquitted him of unrelated sexual offences alleged to have taken place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
Since its launch in 2011, Operation Grange has received more than £13.2m in Home Office funding after a further £108,000 was secured from the government in April.
Madeleine’s case remains one of the most high-profile unsolved disappearances of recent decades, attracting international attention and repeated appeals for information.
