'Madeleine McCann would still be alive if I'd identified Brueckner sooner'

23 May 2024 , 18:22

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Madeleine went missing from her parents’ holiday apartment in Praia da Luz (Image: PA)

The holiday rep allegedly raped by Christian Brueckner told police she believes Mad­­­eleine McCann would still be alive if she had been able to identify him sooner.

Hazel Behan told a court earlier this month that she was attacked by the convicted sex offender in her flat in the Algarve in 2004. German prosecutors believe Brueckner snatched Madeleine from her parents’ holiday apartment in nearby Praia da Luz, Portugal, three years later.

Hazel, 40, came forward to police in 2020, saying that she recognised Brueckner’s eyes while reading about the case. She had previously spoken to Portuguese police in 2004 but was unable to identify her masked attacker.

Rainer Grimm, the man leading the Madeleine case, revealed Hazel’s regret while testifying in court yesterday. The German FBI’s lead investigator was drafted in to probe Brueckner, 47, after Scotland Yard received a tip-off in 2017.

Brueckner denies any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance (The Daily Mirror)

He has spent seven years on the case and is said to have evidence that Brueckner is the guilty party. Mr Grimm was also involved in last year’s search at an Algarve reservoir, looking for evidence linking Brueckner to Madeleine’s disappearance. And he has investigated other allegations against Brueckner in Portugal, for which the German is now standing trial.

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They include the rape of Hazel, from Mullingar, Ireland, who was working as a tour rep in Praia da Rocha when she was attacked. Brueckner’s lawyer Friedrich Fuelscher asked Grimm whether he remembered Hazel “expressing her regret” during an interview she had with him. Mr Grimm initially said he could not remember.

But after a passage of the interview was read out in the court in Braunschweig, Germany, he replied: “Yes, it was like that.” He added: “She said she had never imagined that there was a connection to the [Madeleine] case. She regretted that she was unable to put two and two together.”

Brueckner, who is serving a seven-year jail term for rape, denies any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance. He also denies the three rapes and two indecent assaults he is now on trial for, alleged to have happened in Portugal from 2000 to 2017. The trial continues.

Martin Fricker