Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner is ruled out of probe into missing ‘German Maddie’

Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner is ruled out of probe into missing ‘German Maddie’ who vanished aged five during family picnic in 2015

The chief suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been ruled out of an investigation into a missing five-year-old German girl.

Inga Gehricke – dubbed Germany’s Madeleine McCann – vanished near a factory that Christian Brueckner, a convicted paedophile and rapist, was working on.

But in a blow to the Madeleine’s parents and investigators, Germany prosecutors have said that 44-year-old had nothing to do with Gehricke’s disappearance.

The German girl vanished in 2015 during a family picnic close to the derelict factory being renovated by Brueckner.

Despite five years of police appeals and a reward of 25,000 offered for information leading to her whereabouts, Inga has never been found – as is the case with Madeleine McCann. 

Christian Brueckner

Inga Gehricke (left) – dubbed Germany’s Madeleine McCann – vanished near a factory Christian Brueckner (right), a convicted paedophile and rapist, was working on

‘The public prosecutor’s office has thoroughly examined connections to the Inga case and determined there isn’t even an initial suspicion against my client,’ Brueckner’s lawyer told The Sun. 

Investigators searched the factory and found 8,000 images of children buried in a plastic bag under Brueckner’s dead dog Charlie.

Lawyers representing the Gehricke family said that they stayed at a nearby house in May 2015, and the day before Inga disappeared, police records placed Brueckner at a nearby motorway service station where he had a parking-related accident.

Brueckner – who is currently imprisoned for a separate crime – is thought to have commuted between the factory on Neuwegersleben and to Braunschweig, around 35 miles away.

But despite the link, Thomas Kramer, a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office in Stendal, told the newspaper: ‘The investigation of Christian B regarding Inga’s disappearance is currently closed.

‘Police investigations have been conducted but they have not produced any facts to suggest that Christian B. could have abducted, abused or killed Inga. 

‘Therefore, even after this additional research, there was no initial suspicion against Chrisitan B., so that the preliminary proceedings were discontinued.’  

Pictured: British girl Madeleine McCann, who went missing in 2007

Pictured: British girl Madeleine McCann, who went missing in 2007

Prosecutors in Madeleine’s case have said they have ‘concrete evidence’ she was dead, and have also linked Brueckner with a string of child kidnappings that date back several years.  

But despite this, Brueckner has not been questioned by any police service about Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007.  

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, on Portugal’s Algarve, on May 3, 2007. 

Brueckner was told last November that he will remain behind bars until 2026, after losing a bid to overturn a rape conviction.

He was last year found guilty of the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American woman in the same Portuguese resort and sentenced to seven years in a Hanover jail, at a court in Brunswick, Lower Saxony.

The 43-year-old German national – referred to as Christian B in Germany due to the country’s strict privacy laws – was identified as a suspect in the Madeleine investigation last June.  

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, on Portugal’s Algarve, on May 3, 2007.

In December, Scotland Yard confirmed it has no plans to end its missing person investigation, despite the belief of German prosecutors that Madeleine was murdered.