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7 months ago
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ARTICLE AD BOX
A WOMAN called by the chief suspect in the Madeleine McCann case just hours after she vanished was part of a paedophile ring, it was claimed in court.
In sensational evidence, a witness said the woman supplied teenage girls to convicted rapist Christian Brueckner.
Dan Charity
AFP
PA:Press AssociationFormer pal Helge Busching told a court in Germany that a girl of 13, allegedly tied to a post and raped on camera by Brueckner, was supplied by the lady.
He told judges in Brueckner’s trial for rape and sex offences: “I was told Christian Brueckner brought a woman washing machines and instead of paying him for it, she provided him with young girls.”
Brueckner telephoned the woman — who cannot be named under German law — after Madeleine, then aged three, disappeared from her family’s holiday villa in the resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007.
She was also interviewed at least three times by the BKA, Germany’s federal police.
Brueckner rang her the night Madeleine disappeared saying he was driving his camper van from Tomar in central Portugal to her home on the south coast, 20 miles from Praia da Luz.
The most direct route would have taken him through the resort but he did not arrive that night.
The claims emerged as a former pal of Brueckner, Michael Tatschl, 50, yesterday told the court he believed Madeleine was snatched to be sold to a paedophile network.
Tatschl lived with Brueckner, 47, near Praia da Luz and previously claimed: “I know Brueckner killed Madeleine McCann.”
In court he was asked if he still believed Brueckner stole Madeleine to sell her to a paedophile network.
He replied: “That was my suspicion because he wanted money.”
Tatschl said his suspicion had been the child was snatched to be sold to a paedophile network which was operating in Morocco because it was close to Portugal.
He also said that Brueckner broke into holiday apartments naked — often in Praia da Luz — while victims were sleeping.
HOUSE BREAK-INS
He told Braunschweig regional court: “Brueckner broke into houses, tourists’ houses, at night when they were not there.
“And he would even break in when they were sleeping and also if they were up on the first or second floors.”
He added: “He told me he once went into a room when three teenage girls were sleeping and he went in naked.
“A girl woke up and screamed.”
The court heard the girls were woken by a mobile phone ringing and their father rushed in and chased the intruder away.
Brueckner is said to have escaped by leaping over a balcony.
Tatschl — who was in jail with Brueckner after they were caught stealing diesel — added: “He told me about all his burglaries and how he did them. And he didn’t care if they were sleeping or not.”
The Sun
AFPTatschl also told how Brueckner kept a stash of stolen passports in a secret compartment in the hallway ceiling at their home.
While the pair served eight months in jail in 2006 for stealing 320 litres of lorry fuel, Brueckner told another drifter pal, Christian Post, to remove CDs from his house and dump his dogs.
Two other pals, Busching and Manfred Seyferth, also decided to burgle Brueckner’s house where they found a pistol, camcorder and sick videos which allegedly showed a masked Brueckner raping an elderly woman tied to a bed.
The court also heard that a van linked to the investigation was used by Brueckner for transporting stolen goods around Praia da Luz.
VAN FOUND
We have told how a similar white Mercedes Sprinter was later found parked at a disused factory after he returned to Germany.
Brueckner brought the motor — as well as a VW estate car and Opel Ascona — back from Portugal and kept them at the old box factory in Neuwegersleben.
Sources say he regularly visited a now-closed scrapyard in nearby Helmstedt to dispose of vehicles.
We tracked down the owners who said they still had a decade of records and admitted they were surprised they never heard from police, who were told in 2020 that Brueckner used the van.
Madeleine disappeared while on holiday with parents Kate and Gerry, now both 55, of Rothley, Leics.
German investigators believe Brueckner abducted and murdered her, although no charges have been filed against him over it.
He is on trial for alleged rapes and indecent exposures, uncovered during the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.
He denies the claims. The trial continues.
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