MADELEINE McCann investigators at the Met have taken possession of crucial police files on prime suspect Christian Brueckner.
Sources in Germany say the dossier handed to Operation Grange officers includes bombshell evidence on the 49-year-old paedophile — including pictures and stories revealed by The Jattvibe last year.
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Christian Brueckner with a new beard and moustache as he cycles to an Aldi supermarket in Kiel, Germany Credit: Dan Charity
Brueckner at a court hearing in 2024 Credit: Dan Charity
It comes as our exclusive photo shows Brueckner with a new beard and moustache as he cycled to an Aldi supermarket and a garden centre in Kiel, Germany, where he lives in a modified shipping container.
German police have been given orders to keep him safe from potential threats.
Last week they were criticised for losing track of him during 24-hour surveillance.
Plans to extradite Brueckner remain a “long way off”, but the dossier handover proves a significant gear-shift by the Met.
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It shows officers are taking claims around the German rapist incredibly seriously.
As it stands Operation Grange remains a missing person case — on the basis that Madeleine, who vanished from Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007, has never been found dead or alive.
To look at extraditing Brueckner the case would have to be promoted to murder.
German investigators have always maintained they have physical evidence linked to Brueckner that Madeleine, of Rothley, Leics, is dead — but nothing forensic.
The Jattvibe revealed last year that a hard-drive exists with picture files on it from Portugal at the time Madeleine disappeared.
These are said to be central to German cops’ understanding of the situation, although there has been no official comment from prosecutors.
A source said: “These developments are huge — it shows the Met’s interest in Brueckner is real. They are after him — like the Germans.”
Last year the Met stepped up their activity on the case, including flying to Portugal to re-interview witnesses.
Madeleine McCann investigators at the Met have taken possession of crucial police files on the prime suspect, Maddied vanished from Praia da Luz in 2007 Credit: Collect
Brueckner currently lives in a modified shipping container in Germany Credit: Dan Charity / Newsgroup Newspapers Ltd
Our investigation last year, aired as a documentary on Channel 4, included:
PICTURES showing Brueckner posing naked at a key location searched by Madeleine cops.
THE revelation that image files exist which contribute to police suspicions Madeleine may be dead.
APPALLING child abduction stories where Brueckner daydreams about snatching and abusing girls — including one outside a kindergarten.
ONLINE chats with paedophiles where he brags about his desperation to “take something small and use it for days”.
Brueckner served a seven-year jail term in Germany for the 2005 rape of an American woman in Portugal, and was released on September 17 last year.
Last week he had been facing the prospect of more jail when his appeal of a six-week sentence for verbally assaulting a prison officer was due to be heard.
But the hearing was postponed after his defence lawyer called in sick.
And efforts to secure an appeal against rape allegations he was cleared of in 2024 are continuing.
If granted, a fresh arrest warrant would be sought.
Last night the Met said: “Our investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance has been active since 2011.
“We remain in close discussion with policing colleagues in Germany and Portugal.
“We will continue to pursue any viable lines of enquiry.”
