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September 29, 2025

Andrew Campbell 

Ahead of his impending release from prison, the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance has declined to be examined by the Metropolitan Police. British police had asked the German suspect for an interview, but the suspect had declined.

Christian Brueckner, a German national, is scheduled to be released from prison on September 17. For the 2005 rape of an elderly woman in the Portuguese Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, he is currently serving a seven-year sentence.

McCann went missing on May 3, 2007, while vacationing with her family in the Algarve town of Praia da Luz. Madeleine McCann's disappearance has spurred a frantic search and captured the attention of the global media. Unfortunately, she's never been found.

Brueckner has not been charged and denies any involvement in the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann from the same holiday resort on May 3, 2007. However, Brueckner remains a suspect in the Metropolitan Police’s investigation. Police from Portugal and Germany spent four days in June looking for clues about McCann's disappearance in the Algarve before his anticipated release.