Maddie McCann suspect Christian Brueckner's chilling response when asked about toddler

Christian Brueckner remained tight lipped as he was once more quizzed on his involvement in the disappearance of Madeline McCann while trying to confront the prosecutor who accused him of her murder.

The German was released from prison earlier this month after serving a seven-year prison sentence for the rape of an elderly woman at her home in Praia da Luz in 2005.

The town was at the centre of the British toddler's disappearance in 2007, after she went missing from an apartment whilst her parents dined at a restaurant close by. Christian Brueckner travelled for hours to the prosecutor's office in the German town of Braunschweig but was denied a meeting with Hans Christian Wolters. He told Sky News: "The prosecutor refused to meet me, but I told his representative I wanted his help to get my life back."

The convicted paedophile and rapist added: "I'm being hounded by the media, and it's his fault. I want him to take responsibility.

"I was told there was nothing they could do to help. I had been convicted and released, and I wasn't their responsibility."

But in a chilling moment, when asked about his role in the disappearance of Madeline, Brueckner refused to answer.

Following his release from prison, the newly-freed rapist, 49, hinted of a dark secret as he shopped for a phone, according to a local shop manager.

Farouk Salah-Brahmin, 32, said: "Brueckner told me he had some information."

"I don't know if it's the McCann case but he said he had evidence that could bring the scandal of the century to an end."

"He said he would end all the accusations against him. He said he can bring his own solution. He said something about USB sticks."

Previously, in a TV interview in 2022, Mr Wolters accused him of murdering Madeleine, which he denies.

Brueckner's lawyer Friedrich Fulscher told Sky that the public accusation had made his client's rehabilitation "impossible".

British police have their own investigation into Madeleine's disappearance in which Brueckner is also a suspect, but the UK probe remains a missing persons not a murder inquiry.

A number of searches have been carried out by German, Portuguese and British authorities since Madeleine's disappearance - with the latest taking place near the Portuguese municipality of Lagos in June.

In 2023, investigators carried out searches near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz.

Brueckner spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017 and had photographs and videos of himself near the reservoir.

In October last year, the suspect was cleared by a German court of unrelated sexual offences, alleged to have taken place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

The total funding given to the Met's investigation, titled Operation Grange, has been more than £13.2 million since 2011 after a further £108,000 was secured from the Government in April.