Christian Brueckner was facing extra time behind bars because he could not pay a fine. But now a former technician in Germany’s BKA – their equivalent of the FBI – has paid the cash
A former police officer has paved the way for the release of Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner by secretly paying his court fines.
German authorities hoped outstanding levies for an offence in jail would keep the 48-year-old rapist and paedophile behind bars until January. But they were dealt a blow when a mystery woman paid the £1,300 fines needed for him to be freed on the earliest possible date in September. And now it has emerged the anonymous donor is a former employee of the Bundeskriminalamt – Germany’s equivalent of the FBI. Her actions means investigators will miss out on crucial extra time to bring charges over Madeleine’s 2007 disappearance.
Brueckner is nearing the end of a seven-year jail term for raping an American pensioner in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz. German prosecutors named him as their prime suspect in the Madeleine case in June 2020 but have yet to charge him.
In May he was convicted for verbally assaulting prison guards and also has outstanding fines for assault. The mystery woman, a former technician from the BKA, transferred €1,447 (£1,238.27) to pay the fines earlier this month.
According to Der Spiegel she is a former surveillance operative who once worked in audio intelligence. She was allegedly upset after investigators bugged Brueckner’s jail cell without permission.
The woman claims she only meant to pay a fine relating to insulting a prison officer and did not realise the charges included assault. She described it as a “misunderstanding”.
Brueckner is now due to walk out of prison on September 17 and has boasted of planning to go into hiding. Politicians and victims’ groups want an inquiry into how a woman once trusted with surveillance operations ended up helping Brueckner.
“This is not just a scandal – it’s a catastrophic failure of judgement and oversight,” one MP told Der Spiegel. “The police must explain how this could happen under their watch.”
Earlier this week it was reported Brueckner is planning to move to Germany’s ‘billionaire playground island’ when he is released from jail. His lawyer Friedrich Fuelscher has claimed Brueckner plans to stay in Germany after his release – and has already chosen a new home.
“According to my information, he plans to settle in Schleswig-Holstein,” Fuelscher told Bild. And Brueckner has a very specific location in mind – the exclusive North Sea island of Sylt.
“Sylt has appealed to him in the past,” Fuelscher added. Sylt is Germany’s northernmost island, nestled in the North Sea just off Schleswig‑Holstein.
It has been connected to the mainland by the Hindenburgdamm causeway since 1927. In the 1960s Sylt reinvented itself into a jet‑set playground for rich movers and shakers, and it is still this way today.
Despite a lengthy police investigation, detectives appear to be no closer to charging him over Madeleine’s disappearance. He was cleared last October of a string of sex crimes he was accused of carrying out in Portugal.
Prosecutors are awaiting the outcome of an appeal against those verdicts lodged in Germany’s Federal Court of Justice. Brueckner denies any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
German search teams spent three days hunting for evidence in Portugal earlier this month. Brueckner was living in a ramshackle farmhouse on the edge of Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished from the holiday resort in May 2007.