A man in Germany has been officially declared a suspect in the disappearance of British three-year-old Madeleine McCann in 2007, Portuguese authorities say.
The statement has come at the request of the Portuguese team, writes the news agency AFP.
Prosecutors in the city of Portimao in the Algarve region say the suspect was identified as an official suspect in the case on Wednesday.
Three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007 while on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal with her parents.
Named German
German police stated in 2020 that they were investigating a German man, who was already in prison, in connection with the disappearance. He was identified as Christian Brückner in both German and international media and is in his mid-forties.
He is now serving a sentence in another case. In 2019, he was found guilty of raping a 72-year-old American woman in her residence in Praia de Luz in 2005.
Several media on Thursday identified the man who has been identified as “Christian B” and writes that he is also suspected of another rape.
German police have previously said they believe the man killed the British three-year-old, who was to turn four years old a few days after she disappeared. An extensive investigation of the case has so far not been successful, and the girl has never been found.
The man whom the police suspect is behind the disappearance, was traveling around Portugal in a caravan when Madeleine disappeared. He has also been investigated for several other sexual crimes.
Huge attention
The disappearance led to an enormous effort to find the three-year-old, and pictures of her were shown both in news items and printed on posters.
Portuguese police dropped the case in 2008, before reopening it five years later.
– The case was reopened after new elements came to light, a spokesman for the prosecution told AFP at the time.
Since then the investigation took place in collaboration with British and German authorities.
German media write that the latest development in the case is first and foremost a technical step, but that it can help the prosecution to bring charges against the man.
It may also have to do with the fact that May 3 is 15 years since Madeleine disappeared and that this is the statute of limitations for murder cases in Portugal.
Correction: In a news item on Thursday night, VG wrote that the man was charged with the disappearance of McCann. The truth is that he has been officially declared a suspect. This was corrected on April 22 at 08.49.
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