Prosecutors probing prime suspect in Madeleine McCann case hit major stumbling block

Prosecutors investigating the key suspect in the Madeleine McCann case have hit a major stumbling block after revealing key witnesses could face perjury charges.

Convicted rapist Christian Brueckner, 45, was sensationally named as primarily responsible for the kidnap and murder of Madeleine, who went missing from a Portuguese holiday apartment in 2007.

German investigators built their case around a witness named Helge Busching whose evidence helped jail Bruckner for rape in 2019, but now questions have been raised around his testimony in the trial.

He claimed that he and another man named Manfred Seyferth found a video camera in Brueckner’s home that showed him raping and sexually assaulting two women, and that it was used to imprison him for seven years.

Busching also told investigators in Brunswick, Germany, the year after Madeleine disappeared, that he had a conversation with Brueckner in which he said it was “strange that she didn’t scream” when they talked about her disappearance.

Brueckner is currently languishing in a German prison for the rape of a 72-year-old American tourist in Portugal just 18 months before Madeleine was kidnapped from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz

Two months ago it was claimed that Busching was ‘waving his teeth’ and threatening to withdraw his evidence, but now another spanner has been thrown into the works with the revelation that he is being investigated for false testimony.

It revolves around the camera that Busching and Seyferth claimed to have found and hid in a house they shared, but which later went missing and was never found.

According to Brueckner’s lawyer Friedrich Fulscher, this testimony he gave is different from his statement stating that they hid them in a camper – which he believes makes him an unreliable witness.

Busching gave Brueckner’s name to British police in 2017, around the tenth anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance.

Busching claims that Brueckner told him at a Spanish kite festival in 2008 that he had been involved in the kidnapping of Madeleine from Praia da Luz a year earlier.

When asked in 2020 what he thought of Brueckner, Busching said, “One word. Guilty.’

The Brunswick Public Prosecution Service has said Busching is being investigated for “false testimony” after receiving a complaint from his lawyer Freidrich Fulscher last week, but details have only just emerged.

German investigators built their case around a witness named Helge Busching whose evidence helped jail Bruckner for rape in 2019, but now questions have been raised around his testimony in the trial

Mr Fulscher would only say: ‘as a witness this man is completely incredible’, but confirmed that he had filed the complaint and asked for a new trial in the rape case in which Brueckner was sentenced to seven years in prison.

A source close to the investigation said that when Busching was alerted to the discrepancies by German police, he refused to discuss his evidence and refused to cooperate further after speaking to his lawyer.

Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, went missing in May 2007, just a few days before her fourth birthday, while on holiday with her siblings and parents Kate and Gerry. She has not been seen or heard from since.

Brueckner is currently languishing in a German prison for the rape of a 72-year-old American tourist in Portugal just 18 months before Madeleine was kidnapped from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.

His trial heard he planned the sex attack after breaking into the victim’s home with a rope to tie her up. She was blindfolded and gagged before being raped and robbed.

Brueckner, a convicted pedophile, is also under investigation for a series of sexual assaults and a rape in the Algarve from the early 2000s to 2017.

He has denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.