May 3 marks 15 years since Maddie disappeared
Portuguese prosecutors have finally declared an official suspect in the disappearance of
Madeleine McCann, who was reported missing almost 15 years ago.
The suspect was not named, but prosecutors said they were acting at the request of German authorities.
A number of publications
named the suspect as German pedophile Christian Brueckner. In 2020, German police said they were investigating a man, known as Christian B, in connection with the case. He has not been charged and denies any involvement in Maddie's disappearance during a 2007 family vacation in Praia da Luz. She was three.
According to a statement issued Thursday by prosecutors in Faro, a person was made a suspect a day earlier.
This is the first time a suspect has been named since Maddie's parents, Kate and Gerry, were named as suspects - and later cleared - 15 years ago.
On 3 May it will be 15 years since Maddie was reported missing and under Portuguese law it would no longer be possible to declare someone a person of interest beyond this date - a necessary step in the criminal process, the
BBC reported.
However, in its statement, Portugal's office of public prosecutions said that the development was not driven by timing, but by "strong indications" of the practice of a crime.
Christian B, 45, is currently serving a prison sentence for drug offences in Germany and was also given a seven-year term for raping a 72-year-old woman.
The Met Police continue to treat Maddie's disappearance as a missing persons inquiry.
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