Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)
MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian Brueckner will finally face a number of his alleged victims in court in February.
The Olive Press can reveal a long-awaited trial has been set for the German sex offender at Braunschweig High Court.
He has been charged with five crimes, including three alleged rapes and two sex attacks on children.
The trial – scheduled to run for over a month – could see Brueckner, 46, practically locked up for life due to the severity of some of the alleged attacks.
The Madeleine trial will follow ‘soon afterwards’, police sources in Germany told the Olive Press.
“It’s good news (finally) and we are working on the exact dates now,” a senior detective at the BKA, in Wiesbaden, revealed.
The German sex offender – who was made an official suspect (arguido) over the abduction of toddler Madeleine McCann in Portugal in 2007 – failed to have the court moved to a different jurisdiction last month.
He is currently in prison for seven years for the sadistic rape of an American pensioner in Portugal, in 2005.
Brueckner has been charged with the rape of a young Irish woman on the Algarve in June 2004.
Hazel Behan, then 20, was raped at knifepoint by a blond-haired German, with ‘piercing blue eyes’, who climbed into her apartment and filmed the vicious four-hour attack.
At least two witnesses saw a man resembling Brueckner arrive and leave the first floor apartment in Portimao, at dawn.
One, a hotel worker, claims he saw the German expat and was able to identify him as he had taken off his mask to flee.
“He came forward recently with his evidence,” a German source told the Olive Press. “His testimony is very credible.”
Mother-of-three Behan, 40, told the Olive Press today: “I am delighted our day in court is edging nearer.
“My lawyer in Germany messaged me at the crack of dawn this morning saying the court is starting the case in February. We are just negotiating with the exact dates now between us and Brueckner’s lawyer.
“I have since spoken to the police and we are discussing the logistics of flying out, transfers and where to stay, etc”
She added: “I’m obviously nervous about seeing him again and being cross-examined by his lawyer, but I will just tell the truth and stick to it.”
Brueckner will also be facing two other rapes that he also filmed at the home he rented for seven years, just outside Praia da Luz, where Madeleine went missing.
They include the sexual assault on an, as yet, unknown teenager and an older woman in her sixties.
The videos were found by two of his former acquaintances, Manfred Seyferth and Helge Busching, on a camera they had taken from his home.
He is also facing two other sex offences against children, including the assault of a young German girl on a beach, near Praia da Luz, just a month before Maddie went missing.
The broad daylight attack was witnessed by the girl’s brother and both her parents had a very good look at the assailant who they have identified as Brueckner.
Brueckner is also facing a sexual assault charge for exposing himself to four young children in a playground in Sao Bartolome de Messines, on the Algarve, in 2017.
He was arrested at the time by an off-duty female police officer, who discovered he was wanted via Interpol, in Germany for other crimes.
He has a long list of previous convictions that numbers nearly 20.
As we went to press, we failed to get any official quote from the German judiciary.
