Christian Brueckner, the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, was spotted parting at a nightclub just hours after he was released from prison
The prime suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance celebrated in a nightclub less than 48 hours after being released from jail.
Christian Brueckner, 49, was seen drinking in the noisy discotheque after brazenly deciding to head out and about. Sources told the Mirror his identity in his new town, which we are not naming, was blown when he walked into a shop at the main train station and women in there began screaming after recognising him.
A source told us: “Brueckner is famous in Germany now so the women in the shop instantly recognised him and started screaming. Brueckner pulled up his trousers to show his ankle tag and started saying, ‘I’m innocent, I’m innocent. No-one in this town wants him here, it’s just creating a problem for everybody.”
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Brueckner was living in a ramshackle farmhouse on the edge of Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished from the Ocean Club resort while her parents Kate and Gerry dined at a nearby tapas restaurant in 2007. He is now understood to be staying in a private flat, provided by the German state.
On Friday night, the Mirror revealed he had been moved into emergency accommodation in the city near Hamburg, after he formally declared himself homeless.
It is understood he was initially put in a homeless hostel before being moved to other accommodation just hours later amid fears for his safety.
Brueckner had been seen being driven out of Sehnde prison, near Hanover, on Wednesday before being photographed heading straight for a McDonald’s – next to a stop that sells baby and toddler clothes.
As part of his release, he must wear an ankle tag for five years and faces recall to prison if he breaks any of his bail conditions, including moving house without telling probation staff.
Despite a lengthy police investigation, detectives appear to be no closer to charging him over Madeleine’s disappearance, which he denies any involvement in. He was also cleared last October of a string of sex crimes he was accused of carrying out in Portugal.
But prosecutors are now awaiting the outcome of an appeal against those verdicts, lodged in Germany’s Federal Court of Justice. And he has been ordered to appear in court next month in Oldenburg where he is charged with insulting a prison officer and could be ordered to pay a fine.
Brueckner’s lawyer Philipp Marquort has appealed for his client to be left alone. He said: “Mr Brueckner has served his sentence and he is now a free man and as such he completely has the right to live without being disturbed or hounded.
“The prosecution have no evidence against him in the Maddie case – even though they say they haven’t been able to find any exonerating evidence.
“But either way what’s important now is that he has been released and deserves to be left alone and those trying to pursue him against his will, we will take legal action against them both at the civil and the criminal court level.”