German police have ‘solved 90 per cent’ of the Madeleine McCann case

Mr Fehlinger – a former ambulance driver – told The Sun: ‘They said they had 90 per cent solved the case and seemed very confident.

German police officers have ‘solved 90 per cent’ of the Madeleine McCann (pictured) case and are ‘very convinced’ Christian Brueckner is responsible, reports suggest

 Dieter Fehlinger – father of Brueckner’s alleged ‘ex-lover’ Nicole Fehlinger (pictured) – said he spoke to police who are closing in on the convicted paedophile

‘They seemed ­to be very convinced that Christian B was their man.’ 

Mr Fehlinger, 65, met Brueckner the same year Madeleine disappeared.

The German paedophile boasted to Mr Fehlinger that he could ‘hide drugs or even a small child’ in his camper van.

Mr Fehlinger insisted that Nicole – whose daughter was six at the time – was not involved in Madeleine‘s disappearance. 

Last week, Ms Fehlinger was accused by a Portuguese couple of tipping off Brueckner so he could steal a family’s life savings.

Brueckner (right) is prime suspect in the kidnap and murder of three-year-old Madeleine (left) in 2007 while she was on holiday in Praia da Luz and is currently languishing in a German prison in Kiel on a drug-related sentence 

Neither Brueckner or Fehlinger have been arrested or charged with this offence and it is not known whether the allegations are credible.

Some think that if Fehlinger is connected to Brueckner she might hold the key to unlocking the mystery of what happened to the missing three-year-old. 

She was accused on Portuguese TV of working with the German drifter to carry out a burglary in the Algarve that bore a chilling similarity to the break-in at the McCann’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in May 2007.

The mother-of-three has also always maintained she hardly knew the serial sex offender.

Brueckner is prime suspect in the kidnap and murder of three-year-old Madeleine in 2007 while on holiday in Praia da Luz and is currently languishing in a German prison in Kiel on a drug-related sentence. Pictured: Key locations in the Madeleine case

Last month German police named Brueckner as their prime suspect in the kidnap and murder of three-year-old Madeleine who vanished while on holiday with parents Kate and Gerry McCann.

Detectives in northern Germany have spent weeks making desperate appeals for information to link Brueckner to the youngster’s abduction but have not so far secured the vital evidence they need.

Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the investigation, has told the McCanns they have concrete evidence Madeleine is dead, in the biggest break-through in the 13-year-old case.

He said he hoped to be able to charge Brueckner within the next two months – but has added their investigation will not drag on forever.

His lawyer Friedrich Fulscher said it was for detectives to prove he was guilty. ‘As things stand now I do not actually believe there will be any charges,’ he said. ‘I do not anticipate a prosecution.

‘Thank God, in our legal system the prosecution has to prove the crime to an accused person and it is not the accused who must exonerate himself.

‘As long as my client does not know what he is accused of, and on what basis, there is no reason to think otherwise.’