Madeleine McCann suspect refuses interview ahead of German release

Monday 15 September 2025 - 10:30

By: Sahili Aya

Madeleine McCann suspect refuses interview ahead of German release

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has declined to be interviewed by the Metropolitan Police before his scheduled release from a German prison, authorities confirmed on Monday.

Christian Brueckner, 49, has long been under investigation in connection with the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. Scotland Yard submitted a formal international request to question him, but the German national refused.

Madeleine vanished shortly after being put to bed by her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, while they dined with friends nearby. Brueckner remains the primary suspect in the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Grange inquiry, which runs alongside ongoing investigations by German and Portuguese authorities.

DCI Mark Cranwell, senior officer for Operation Grange, emphasized that investigators would continue to pursue all viable lines of inquiry despite the refusal. “We have worked closely with colleagues in Germany and Portugal to investigate Madeleine’s disappearance and support her family,” Cranwell said.

Brueckner is serving a seven-year sentence in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005. He has consistently denied involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance. Prosecutors confirm he was in the Algarve around the time she vanished, though he has not been charged in relation to the case.

Operation Grange, launched in 2011, has received over £13.2 million in funding from the UK Home Office, reflecting the continued commitment to one of the most high-profile unsolved disappearances in recent decades.