Christian Brueckner is due to be released from Sehnde jail, near Hanover, by Wednesday after serving a seven-year term for raping and beating a US pensioner in Portugal in 2005
The rapist suspected of killing Madeleine McCann could be freed from prison with no restrictions on his movements and flee Germany within six weeks.
Christian Brueckner is due to be released from Sehnde jail, near Hanover, by Wednesday after serving a seven-year term for raping and beating a US pensioner in Portugal in 2005.
Members of the public, including Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry, will likely never be told of any restrictions on the drifter.
A German legal source said: “The system in the UK is very different to Germany, where prosecutors still cannot publicly use Brueckner’s family name.
“When speaking about him in the media, they must still refer to him only as Christian B due to strict privacy laws. Details of his release conditions will be heard in private.”
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Brueckner’s legal team claim he should have the right to leave Germany within 45 days of release. His lawyer Philipp Marquort previously told us that his client may move to a country without extradition treaties to the UK or his native Germany and have plastic surgery.
Brueckner, 48, is the prime suspect in the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine. She vanished while on holiday in the Algarve in May 2007. Brueckner was named as being under investigation in the case five years ago by German prosecutor Hans-Christian Wolters.
Mr Wolters has applied to a court for Brueckner to be placed under strict supervision after his release. An application has also been made for his passport to be taken away and he could be made to wear an electronic ankle tag. Despite being unable to question Brueckner, Mr Wolters is optimistic he will eventually be charged.
Last week, he said his team are still trying to trace the person who made a 30-minute call to Brueckner, causing his mobile to be “pinged” by a cell tower in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine vanished from her family’s apartment in the resort.
Another of Brueckner’s lawyers, Friedrich Fuelscher, says he does not expect his client to face an indictment in Madeleine’s case.
He claims Brueckner wants to stay in Germany, adding: “I hope he will be able, despite the media’s campaign of pre-judgment, to live a reasonably normal life. He has served his sentence and, in the Maddie case, the presumption of innocence applies.”