By Basant El-Faramawy
The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will no longer be subject to round-the-clock police surveillance after a German court ruled the legal requirements for such monitoring are no longer met.
Court Ruling Ends Constant Surveillance
Christian Brueckner, 49, was released from a German prison last September after serving seven years for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Portugal. German prosecutors have named him as their suspect in the 2007 disappearance of the three-year-old British toddler from Praia da Luz, though he has never been charged and strongly denies any involvement.
The Schleswig-Holstein Higher Regional Court in north-west Germany rejected a police appeal to maintain 24-hour surveillance following a new psychological and psychiatric assessment that classified Brueckner's risk of reoffending as average rather than high. The court also expressed concern that constant surveillance was undermining his rehabilitation. The surveillance order ended at midnight, though Brueckner will continue to be monitored via an ankle tag.
His lawyer, Philipp Marquort, told ITV News that two courts have now consistently ruled the legal threshold for round-the-clock surveillance is not satisfied. "Anyone who has served their sentence in full must be given the chance to rebuild a life in freedom," Marquort said, adding that his client can now begin that process.
Background on the Case
In an interview earlier this year, Brueckner admitted he was approximately 150 yards from the McCanns' holiday apartment on the night Madeleine vanished, stating he was on the beach selling drugs and had been stopped by police three times during the search. Last year, German federal officers searched abandoned buildings near a cottage Brueckner once rented outside Praia da Luz using ground-penetrating radar but found no significant evidence.
