Madeleine McCann suspect investigated over separate child abuse claim

The main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is reportedly under investigation for a separate child sex offence committed just weeks before she vanished.

Christian Brueckner, 43, is suspected of having exposed himself and performed a sex act in front of a 10-year-old girl on a Portuguese beach in April 2007.

Hans-Christian Wolters, the German chief prosecutor in the Madeleine case, told Sky News: ‘In Germany that is a sexual abuse of a child – and that’s why we are investigating. But he is just a suspect, we haven’t charged him, so I cannot say anything about how this investigation will end.’

He went on to confirm that Brueckner is aware about the new probe and case files have been sent to his lawyers.

The alleged offence occurred while the young girl was visiting Salema Beach with her family, around a 15-minute drive from the resort of Praia da Luz, where Madeleine disappeared from a holiday apartment on May 3 the same year.

Reports suggest the original investigation was closed when the victim was unable to identify her attacker in pictures.

But it is said to have been reopened after her mother went to police when Brueckner was identified in the media as a suspect in the Madeleine case.

The German drifter lived in the Algarve sporadically between 1995 and 2007.

He is currently serving time in prison in his homeland after being convicted of drug trafficking and rape.

Brueckner’s lawyer Friedrich Fulscher said recently his client was ‘innocent’ of any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.

Additional reporting by Gerard Couzens.

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