Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner is to be with 2004 rape of Irish tour rep

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Christian Brueckner, the man suspected of abducting Madeleine McCann, is set to be charged with the 2004 rape of an Irish tour rep on the Algarve.

The German national is suspected of attacking Hazel Behan in her apartment in Praia da Rocha, three years before Maddie was snatched.

Police hope to charge Brueckner in the next 12 weeks. He is currently serving a seven-year sentence for raping a 72-year-old American in 2005 and was named as the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case in June last year. 

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said the case against Brueckner was ‘in a good way’ and that he was ‘hopeful for a charge’.

Wolters explained there were stark parallels between the attack on Ms Behan, the rape of an American tourists – for which Brueckner was convicted – and the ‘abduction and murder of Madeleine McCann.’

He said: ‘In each case the person has come into the person’s apartment or property by breaking and entering, often not through the door.’  

However, Wolters said he was unable to confirm whether police are working on the assumption Maddie’s abductor entered the hotel room through the window, rather than the unlocked balcony doors, the Sunday Times reported. 

Ms Behan, who waived her right to anonymity in June 2020, had demanded police reopen her case after she discovered it had striking similarities with the rape of the American, for which Brueckner was convicted in December 2019.    

She told the Guardian at the time: ‘My mind was blown when I read how he had attacked a woman in 2005, both the tactics and the methods he used, the tools he had with him, how well he had planned it out.

‘I puked, to be honest with you, as reading about it took me right back to my experience.’ 

She recently revealed details of the attack which saw a masked man climb over the balcony to her apartment in the early hours of the morning.

He is said to have held a knife to her throat, tied and gagged her before raping her repeatedly for a period of four or five hours.

The assailant then threatened to kill her before fleeing over the balcony and leaving her bleeding. 

In September, German authorities agreed to open an investigation into the incident. 

But, in a blow to investigators, police said traces of DNA found at the scene of the crime did not match that of Brueckner. 

It is not yet clear what evidence has been uncovered that implicates Brueckner in Ms Behan’s rape. 

Following a charge, prosecutors are likely to seek a full trial before five judges in the district court in Braunschweig (Brunswick in English). 

In June, Brueckner was identified the German man as a suspect in the case of Madeleine, who disappeared from an apartment in 2007 while her family was on holiday in the resort of Praia da Luz, Portugal. 

Brueckner lived in the Algarve for much of the period from 1995 to 2007, and German prosecutors say he received a phone call from a Portuguese number around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance in May 2007. 

He made a living doing odd jobs in the area where Madeleine disappeared, and was also known to have burgled hotel rooms and holiday flats.  

He has two previous convictions for ‘sexual contact with girls’, authorities say, but they do not have enough evidence to hold him in prison on the strength of the McCann case alone.     

Since taking the lead in the case earlier this year, German police have struggled to explain what evidence they have about Madeleine’s disappearance.  

In November, a leaked memo revealed that Portuguese investigators were ‘shocked’ by the lack of concrete evidence after being briefed on the case against Brueckner.

Before that, there was confusion about whether German authorities had specific evidence that Madeleine was dead, as they initially implied they did.       

In the UK, the case remains a missing persons inquiry, as there’s no ‘definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead’.

Madeleine McCann’s parents will ‘never stop hoping’ of finding their daughter as they face 14th anniversary of her disappearance alone as Covid cancels outdoor prayer gathering 

Madeleine McCann‘s parents say they will ‘never stop hoping’ to find their daughter as they face spending the 14th anniversary of her disappearance alone, according to a close relative. 

Kate and Gerry McCann will remember their daughter privately after an outdoor prayer gathering was cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. 

But the couple are asking well wishers to come together remotely to remember and pray for Madeleine, just days before her milestone 18th birthday on May 12th. 

Three-year-old Madeleine, known as Maddie, vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal’s Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007. She had been left sleeping alone with her younger twin siblings while her parents were dining in a nearby tapas restaurant with friends.

Maddie’s great uncle Brian Kennedy has said the family have never stopped hoping. 

The family usually hold gatherings to mark Maddie’s birthday but, for the second time, they have had to cancel due to coronavirus.  

‘We have decided with the Rothley churches that once again we will not hold a general gathering at the Green, though we had been hoping to do so,’ Mr Kennedy, 81, said. 

‘We all consider that distancing would still be a problem if the usual numbers were to attend and we wouldn’t feel entirely happy about that. So each of the churches will do their own service over Sunday and Monday and make them available as widely as possible by streaming.

‘It’s not perfect but the important thing is to remember the day as widely as possible.’

Former GP Kate, 53 and heart doctor Gerry, 52 would  normally attend the Sacred Heart Catholic church near their home with twins Sean and Amelie, now aged 16.

In the evening the family would walk a mile to the war memorial where many supporters congregate for the annual informal prayers. 

A candle still burns around the clock at Cross Green as a beacon of hope for the world’s most famous missing child.

The family cling onto hope that Maddie could still be alive until they can be  ‘shown incontrovertible evidence which proves that she is dead,’ ex family spokesperson Clarence Mitchell previously said.

British cops have requested new funding to carry on the £12.5m global search for her which is set to be approved by the Home Office. 

Convicted paedophile and rapist Christian B (Brueckner), 44, remains under investigation as the prime suspect in Maddie’s abduction.