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8 months ago
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THE rape trial of the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has been extended by three months.
Paedophile Christian Brueckner, 47, is the man German police believe abducted the three-year-old from her family’s holiday flat in Portugal in 2007 and murdered her.
Dan Charity
PAHe is on trial in Germany in an unrelated case after denying the rape and sexual abuse of children in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
The trial — due to finish in June — has been extended until October in a row over whether vile stories he wrote can be used as evidence.
It had been hoped Madeleine charges could be brought within months of a successful conviction.
Brueckner is currently serving a prison sentence for another rape.
A van uncovered by The Sun was being probed last week by the German FBI for child-snatching links to Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner.
The BKA is bidding to trace the white Mercedes Sprinter we revealed parked at the sicko’s woodland lair after Maddie vanished.
Brueckner is believed to have had a white Mercedes van in Portugal at the time the tot was abducted, in 2007 – although it is not clear if the vehicles are one and the same.
Feds want to examine the Mercedes – shown to have belonged to the convicted paedophile – amid hopes it could still contain DNA or crucial clues.
An employee at the garage which took the van when Brueckner was finished with it said: “We cleaned it and repaired it but it wouldn’t have been wiped of all DNA.
“There could still be hairs and other traces of anyone who was kept inside.
“Due to data protection issues we cannot give you exact dates or further details of the client.”
Key dates in Madeleine McCann's disappearance
MADELEINE McCann vanished on May 3, 2007 - and cops believe Brueckner could have been behind her disappearance.
Almost 17 years on, no one has been charged in connection. These are the key dates:
May 3, 2007 – Kate McCann finds Madeleine missing at 10pm
May 14, 2007 – Property developer Robert Murat is named an “arguido” or formal suspect
August 31, 2007 – The McCanns launch libel action against Tal e Qual – a newspaper that claimed the couple killed Madeleine
September 7, 2007 – Kate and Gerry McCann are made “arguidos”
September 9, 2007– Madeleine’s parents return to England with their two-year-old twins
October 2, 2007– Lead detective Goncalo Amaral is taken off the case after criticising British police in a newspaper interview
July 21, 2009 – Portuguese police lift the “arguido” status of both Robert Murat and the McCanns
May 12, 2011 – On Madeleine’s eighth birthday, Scotland Yard launches a review into the case
April 25, 2012 – Scotland Yard officers say they believe Madeleine McCann is still alive
July 4, 2013 – Two years into a review of the case, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance
October 24, 2013– Portuguese police reopen their case after new lines of inquiry are found
November 27, 2013 – Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for British and Portuguese police to work together
October 28, 2015 – Scotland Yard reduces the number of officers working on Madeleine’s disappearance
March 11, 2017 – The Home Office grants Operation Grange an extra £85,000 to continue from April until September
September 28, 2017 – British police are granted £154,000 to keep the probe going until March 2018
November 2017 – Cops moved the search to Bulgaria
May 2018 – Another round of funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
September 2018 – An extra six months of funding is requested from the Home Office
November 2018 – More funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
November 2018 – UK police re-examine a theory Madeleine left the apartment to look for her parents
June 2019 – Another round of funding, believed to be £300,000 of government cash is granted
June 2019 – Portuguese police are probing a “new clue and suspect” after talks with British officers
June 2020 – New prime suspect revealed as a German paedo Christian Brueckner
April 2022 – Brueckner formally made an “arguido”
May 2023 – Police search remote Algarve reservoir Brueckner called his “little paradise”
English (US)