Madeleine McCann prime suspect could walk free without 'final piece of jigsaw'

The former British police officer who led the UK’s first ever review of the Madeleine McCann investigation fears prime suspect Christian Brueckner will walk free in seven months if crucial evidence is not found definitively tying him to the case. Jim Gamble said the urgency is not only because of a need to get justice for the three-year-old, who disappeared while on holiday with her parents in Portugal in 2007, but because 47-year-old Brueckner remains a dangerous threat to society.

Mr Gamble, who was appointed by the Home Office to carry out the scoping review that led to the launch of Operation Grange, said investigators must urgently deliver the “final piece of the jigsaw” before time runs out. He warned: “When people talk about 'Christian B', or Brueckner, being a good suspect, I think it's more than a hunch that makes him a good suspect. It's the circumstantial evidence that surround him, the proximity.

He lived within a mile of the crime when the crime occurred. That's why those searches are taking place where they did.

"He had a history of inquisitive crime, breaking into holiday homes, opportunistically to steal goods.

"He has a history of sexual offences at all ages.

"So, an extremely high-risk individual, and he's currently serving a prison sentence for a rape offence.

Additionally there was a mobile phone which could be linked to Brueckner which could be placed in proximity to within 30 minutes of the crime taking place, Mr Gamble pointed out.

He added: “You don't get much better circumstantial evidence than that.

"So that's why I can see why the German prosecutors are so focused on this individual and I think I welcome their tenacity

at the top of the circumstantial pile that they already have and I can see that the pressure they're under.

“We're now into that waiting game for the forensic analysis of whatever was found to establish whether it's relevant to the crime or not."

Brueckner, 47, is currently serving a seven-year sentence in Germany for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz, the same resort from which Madeleine vanished two years later.

However, with time served and parole considerations, he could be eligible for release early next year – a prospect Mr Gamble said should terrify anyone aware of his criminal history.

Consequently his German and Portuguese colleagues were racing against the clock, Mr Gamble, who has discussed the case extensively, most recently on the True Criminals podcast, emphasised.

He explained: “Let's be really clear on this.

"If Christian Brookner completes his sentence and is released, I would be concerned regardless of his status as a suspect in the Maline McCann case because he's proven that he's a dangerous individual who targets, the young and the most vulnerable in our society.

"And given his nomadic lifestyle, it's going to be all but impossible to mitigate that risk through a management regime.

"So everybody should be worried that individuals with a proven character for criminal offences like him, are on the loose and outside any legal framework that can mitigate the threat they pose.”