Gavin Grey: UK Correspondent on Christian Brückner being cleared of rape charges, his connection to the Madeleine McCann case

The main suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has been cleared of separate rape charges.  

47-year-old Christian Brückner was acquitted of five offences of sexual abuse in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.  

German investigators identified Brückner in 2020 as a suspect in the disappearance of McCann from Portugal in 2007.  

But UK Correspondent Gavin Grey told Ryan Bridge the judge found the witnesses weren't reliable enough to convict him of the rape charge. 

He said there’s crossover in some of the witnesses in the sexual abuse case and the McCann case, which means that they’re likely to be seen as unreliable in both cases. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kevin Gray is the UK you're correspondent. Given the main
suspect and the Medline McCann case cleared over another one.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yes, an unrelated trial, but one that will impact, I
think on investigations into the disappearance of Madeline McCann. So
Christian Brookner is his name. He's forty seven. He's been
acquitted of carrying out five offenses in Portugal between twenty
twenty seventeen. He is, however, already in prison serving a
seven year jail term in Germany for rape. Now, Brooker's

(00:30):
defense team argued he should be clear because of a
lack of evidence, and indeed the presiding judge said there
was insufficient evidence for a conviction and that some of
the witnesses were unreliable. Now that's important because Ryan, what
they're basically saying is that some of the potential witnesses
in the Madeline McCann disappearance case also the same witnesses. So,

(00:54):
in other words, there's a crossover here. And obviously, if
the judge has found them unreliable in the first case,
if it were to come to court about Madeline McCann,
then it would be unlikely that he would change his mind.
About the witnesses for that case, so it has got
an impact. We also believe that Brokener will be in
prison until the end of next September, and we believe

(01:16):
that the Germans who are investigating, along with the Portuguese
and the British detectives, are thinking their best way, their
best hope of standing up a case against this man
is if he's still in prison and they are able
to detain him longer.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
So if they don't priss charges over Medal and mccairn,
this guy could walk next September.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yeah. Absolutely, and that's the fear I think of many
that said. Of course, let me be clear. You know,
there is nothing that we know that distinctly links him
to the Madeline McCann disappearance. But of course when she
disappeared as a young girl from Portugal, he had already
carried out. It was alleged these five offenses offenses of

(02:01):
young people. However, as I said, he's been acquitted of
those charges.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
All right, Thanks so much for that, Kevin Gray are UK.
You're correspondent with.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
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