Laurence Dollimore
A SPANISH forensic expert has been branded ‘irresponsible’ and ‘cruel’ after suggesting Madeleine McCann’s parents were involved in her disappearance.
The British toddler vanished from the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal’s Algarve region some 17 years ago.
In 2020, German paedophile Christian Brueckner was officially named as the prime suspect in the case, with prosecutors alleging he climbed into the holiday apartment where Madeleine was sleeping and snatched her.
But Spanish forensic expert and university lecturer Miryam Moya last week told Spanish TV network Canal Sur that there is ‘not a single piece of forensic evidence of kidnapping’.
She has also published a book on the case, called ‘Vacations to Hell. Madeleine McCann: The Untold Story.’
In it, she claims Madeleine ‘did not leave that apartment alive’, and casts doubt on Brueckner as a suspect.
It comes as Brueckner, 47, is set to be found ‘not guilty’ of five other cases he has been accused of in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
After his lawyer Friedrich Fulscher summed up in a German court that his client was not guilty today, a panel of judges are set to give their verdict tomorrow.
The prosecutors are expected to immediately appeal the verdict at Germany’s Higher Court.
In particular after the expert psychologist tasked with monitoring the criminal described him in court as one of Germany’s most dangerous sex offenders.
Despite this, Moya – best known for her accident investigations – told Andalucia’s Canal Sur last week: “The British and German police have been saying for four years that Brueckner killed Madeleine and Christian’s DNA has never appeared.”
Incredibly, she then pointed the finger at Maddie’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, pointing out the only fingerprints found in the room ‘are from Madeleine’s mother’.
She added: “There is testimony from an Irish family, the Smiths, who identify a man as the father carrying a girl to the beach.”
She then claims that police dogs ‘detected the smell of a corpse on the mother’s clothes and in the car that the family rented.’
Adding to her theory, she said: “It is highly probable that she left the apartment, but without being alive.
“We have a series of testimonies that they have tried to silence during these 17 years.
“The father and mother deleted calls and messages, and some phantom telephone records that they tried to remove. Why are you doing this hours before the police carry out an investigation?”
Reacting to Moya’s statements, journalist and Olive Press publisher Jon Clarke branded her ‘irresponsible’ and ‘cruel’.
Clarke, who has also written a book on the case, was the first British national newspaper journalist to arrive in Praia da Luz when the news about Madeleine’s disappearance first broke in May 2007.
He is one of the leading experts on the case, having starred in the hit Netflix documentary about the investigation and appeared many times on Sky News, ITV and the BBC talking about the case.
He said today: “Poor Madeleine’s parents spent years being accused of killing their own daughter by Portuguese police and media and even some British tabloids.
“And they are still dogged by such accusations today, with cruel and irresponsible theories like that of Moya not helping.
“There is simply no evidence to suggest they were behind her disappearance, only outlandish conspiracy theories that do not hold up under scrutiny.”
He added: “I have been investigating Brueckner for years and there is an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence that places him at the scene.
“Of course his fingerprints or DNA were not found in the apartment, he is a professional burglar and a serial rapist, who knows extremely well how not to leave a trace.”
He added: “It would be best to take the evidence of criminal psychologist Christian Riedemann, who is in charge of an entire prison system in Germany.
“He has studied Brueckner for years and just spent nearly 40 days observing him in court.
“His points were simple. After a life of crime and dozens of convictions he described him as being in the top 1% of serial sex offenders and there was between a 30 and 50% likelihood of him being caught offending again within two years.”
