Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner ‘is planning tell-all book’

Christian Brueckner was named as the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance in 2020 (Picture: Alexander Koerner/Getty Images)

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is planning to publish a tell-all memoir, sources claim.

Christian Brueckner – who is suspected of kidnapping and killing Madeleine, three, from Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007 – is hoping to release a memoir just a year after he was released from prison for rape.

He is understood to be working on a first draft and has approached at least one professional writer to help him write the book, which he hopes to publish in both German and English, the Mirror reports.

Retired British police detective Kevin Moore told the outlet: ‘I won’t be buying it. It’s abhorrent.’

Meanwhile, an insider said: ‘Brueckner is desperate to tell his side of the story. He believes that writing about his innocence will help him.

‘Ultimately he also sees it as a way to help him financially.’

Madeleine went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007 (Picture: Metropolitan Police/AFP via Getty Images) Brueckner has never been charged (Picture: Michael Matthey / Pool / AFP via Getty Images)

Brueckner, 49, has never been charged in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance.

But in 2020 – 13 years after she vanished from the holiday resort where she was staying with her parents and siblings – German police named him as the prime suspect.

He maintains that he is innocent.

But speaking to the Mail on Sunday, Brueckner has now admitted that he was just 150 yards from the family’s holiday apartment the night she disappeared.

He told the publication: ‘I was on the beach, not far from Maddie’s hotel, selling drugs. I’d been in Spain and smuggled the weed into Portugal.’

He also said he was stopped in his van three times by police later
that evening but ultimately wasn’t searched. ‘Luckily they didn’t find the drugs.’

Brueckner told the Mail on Sunday he was 150 yards from Madeleine’s apartment when she disappeared (Picture: via Reuters)

Brueckner has historically remained quiet about his whereabouts on the night of Madeleine’s disappearance. Explaining this, he added: ‘I’ve
kept quiet because the police want to frame me for the Maddie thing.’

Brueckner has reportedly told friends he thinks his memoir could earn him a seven-figure sum, though his earnings are likely to be far less.

Brueckner is due to appear in court in Germany again for an appeal hearing after he was cleared of rape in 2024.

The hearing is set for January and is likely to be followed by a retrial.

A source close to the case in Germany told the Sun: ‘For those who want to see Brueckner charged over Madeleine, this new court date is a gamechanger.

‘The way the German system works means every part of the original trial will be considered – and the judge overseeing it is incredibly sharp. She will miss nothing.

‘Maddie investigators realise for the first time, there is a genuine will to see a retrial and for something to be done about Brueckner.’

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