Madeleine McCann

A German convicted rapist has been formally named as a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann by Portuguese police.

The bedroom window is open and the shutter raised. The McCanns received damages from Express Newspapers in 2008. The family spend time around the pool during the day and the children go to a kids’ club while Gerry and Kate have a tennis lesson. In 2013, police disregard the sighting after a British holidaymaker says it was him carrying his own daughter from a crèche. 9.15pm: Another parent in the group, Jane Tanner, walks past the McCanns’ apartment as she checks on her own children. The caller is described by German police as a “key witness”. Hearing no noise from the children’s bedroom, he assumed all was fine and left without seeing Madeleine. He sees all three children fast asleep before returning to the restaurant. According to witnesses, he is white, has blondish fair hair, described as being quite close-shaven, and is aged between 30-35 years old. Reports from Germany claim Christian Brueckner, 44, is the man identified. Kate and Gerry McCann make a mental note to constantly check their children are settled when they go for a meal later that night. This is what happened on that day:

Kate and Gerry McCann still live in Rothley in Leicestershire, in the same house where their daughter lived before she disappeared. The couple have not spoken ...

"It's been a sad thing. "But you always live in hope. However, in its statement, Portugal's office of public prosecutions said the move was not driven by timing, but by "strong indications" of the practice of a crime.

As the 44-year-old German is named an official suspect, we look at all the previous evidence against him.

He was sentenced at the end of 2019 to seven years in jail. Brueckner is then alleged to have told a drinking buddy that he knew exactly what happened to Madeleine. The saloon car had German number plates and was registered to him. So what is the evidence against the 44-year-old German? "The investigation is led by the Portimao section of the DIAP in Faro with the assistance of the Policia Judiciaria police. Brueckner only came to the attention of the authorities in 2017

The convicted child abuser travelled between Praia da Luz and Germany in a camper van for several years before Madeleine vanished - it is understood ...

However, there are not thought to be any immediate plans to do so. A Portuguese source added: "The legal grounds for making (Christian B) an arguido include the fact that he allegedly confessed to a friend he had snatched Madeleine and mobile phone records placed him in Praia da Luz the night she vanished." Christian B is in prison in Germany after being convicted of raping a 72-year-old woman in 2005, in the same town where Madeleine went missing.

Portuguese police have declared a German man an official suspect in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The three-year-old went missing ...

It is alleged that Christian Brueckner had previously admitted his role in the case to a man in a bar. Portuguese police make Christian Brueckner an “arguido”, or official suspect, in the Madeleine McCann case. The libel ruling in the Goncalo Amoral case is overturned on appeal. Two e-fits, believed to be of the same man spotted on the night Madeleine went missing, are released. German authorities say they believe that Madeleine McCann is dead. He notices that the door is in a different position to how it was left earlier, but sees that the three children are asleep. Kate and Gerry McCann appear at the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics, discussing their experiences with the press following Madeleine’s disappearance. Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, leave their three children - Madeleine and her two-year-old twin siblings - asleep in the apartment while they head to a nearby tapas restaurant to eat with seven other people. At 10pm, Kate McCann heads back to the apartment. Kate and Gerry McCann are subjected to further questioning by Portuguese investigators. While Portuguese authorities have not yet charged him, Christian Brueckner has been made an “arguido” in relation to the case. Here is a timeline of key events surrounding her disappearance.

The 43-year-old was told in his German prison cell that he was now an "arguido" in Portugal on Wednesday morning, one insider said. One well-placed source said ...

Almost 15 years after the youngster's disappearance, Portuguese police have formally identified German Christian Brueckner as a murder suspect.

– July 4: Scotland Yard confirms it has launched its own investigation, Operation Grange, into Madeleine’s disappearance two years into a review of the case. – May 4: Kate and Gerry McCann post a statement on the Official Find Madeleine Campaign website saying they still cling to the hope of seeing their daughter again as they prepare to mark her 18th birthday on May 12. – April 30: The McCanns prepare to mark 10 years since their daughter’s disappearance with a BBC interview in which they vow to do “whatever it takes for as long as it takes” to find her. – October 24: Portuguese police confirm that a review of their original investigation has uncovered new lines of inquiry, and they reopen the case. – April 25: Scotland Yard detectives say they believe Madeleine could still be alive, release an age-progression picture of how she might look as a nine-year-old, and call on the Portuguese authorities to reopen the case, but Portuguese police say they have found no new material. – July 21: The Portuguese authorities shelve their investigation and lift the “arguido” status of the McCanns and Robert Murat.