MADELEINE McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner asked a chilling question about “children’s bones” to his cellmate, it has been claimed.
The paedophile, 47, confessed to inmate Laurentiu C he did snatch a child from a Portuguese apartment, a court heard on Wednesday.
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Confiding about his past, Brueckner is said to have asked his cellmate if he “too” was behind bars for child offences.
But a particularly harrowing question made Laurentiu C raise the prospect of Maddie being buried.
The inmate told Braunschweig Regional Court the rapist had asked him “if the DNA from a child can be taken from bones under the ground”.
Brueckner then is said to have confided he had taken “a child” during a break-in in Portugal – and begged the fellow con to burn down his lair when he got out of prison.
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Laurentiu C told the court: “He asked me if the DNA from a child can be taken from bones under the ground.”
The con added: “He said he stole in Portugal.
“He told me that in Portugal, he had stolen there.
“He was in an area of hotels where rich people live. And when he went to the hotel area, there was an open window somewhere, he told me.
“And he would have entered this window for money and gold. However, he not not find any money, but came across a child and took it with him.
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“About two hours later, the area was full of police and dogs and he had left from there.
“He left the area. He then said that there was another person with him who he had argued with and that they had split up.”
Laurentiu C claimed that Brueckner was concerned about leaving evidence at crime scenes, such as hair or traces from climbing over a balcony.
In court, he alleged that Brueckner had ordered him to burn down his box factory after being freed from prison, believing he would never be free again.
Laurentiu C also said the rapist boasted about hiding his tracks by burning a car, but he did not specify which crime in court.
He said: He said: “He told me that he was there in Portugal with another person and that he set fire to a car or hired someone else to set fire to a car in Portugal.”
The witness also alleged Brueckner told him of abusing “tiny” young girls on a “bus” he owned after snatching them.
He told the court: “There was talk of a girl, I don’t know if what he said was true or not.
“He said that he had a bus and that he had taken her with it. He said he kept some of them, but not others, but he never said that he had killed them.
“We’re talking about girls, not boys. Not all at once, always one at a time. He told me about two. He said that he had taken someone, had sex with her but he didn’t kill her.”
Asked by the judge how old his victim was, Laurentiu C said: “I don’t want to get it wrong, but it was very young, tiny. I mean young.
“Each time when we were together he spoke about it because he was convinced that I was a paedophile.”
The witness told the court that the German confided in him when they were both on remand in the same prison.
The perpetrators were in prison together in 2020, after Brueckner was publicly recognised as the key suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007.
The statement provides a significant assist to the Maddie case because it demonstrates that prosecutors in Germany now have a second witness to Brueckner’s confessions.
Previously, they appeared to rely solely on the testimony of ex-drifter Helge Busching, whose credibility has been injured during Brueckner’s present rape and sex crimes prosecution.
Brueckner had previously seen photographs of Maddie in court for the first time as part of exhibits, which were exhibited on large screens.
He is on trial for a string of rapes and sex offences unconnected to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, which he denies.
The trial continues.
Madeleine McCann’s disappearance
MADELEINE McCann vanished on May 3, 2007 – and cops believe Brueckner could have been behind her disappearance.
Almost 17 years on, no one has been charged in connection. These are the key dates
May 3, 2007 – Kate McCann finds Madeleine missing at 10pm
May 14, 2007 – Property developer Robert Murat is named an “arguido” or formal suspect
August 31, 2007 – The McCanns launch libel action against Tal e Qual – a newspaper that claimed the couple killed Madeleine
September 7, 2007 – Kate and Gerry McCann are made “arguidos”
September 9, 2007– Madeleine’s parents return to England with their two-year-old twins
October 2, 2007– Lead detective Goncalo Amaral is taken off the case after criticising British police in a newspaper interview
July 21, 2009 – Portuguese police lift the “arguido” status of both Robert Murat and the McCanns
May 12, 2011 – On Madeleine’s eighth birthday, Scotland Yard launches a review into the case
April 25, 2012 – Scotland Yard officers say they believe Madeleine McCann is still alive
July 4, 2013 – Two years into a review of the case, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance
October 24, 2013– Portuguese police reopen their case after new lines of inquiry are found
November 27, 2013 – Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for British and Portuguese police to work together
October 28, 2015 – Scotland Yard reduces the number of officers working on Madeleine’s disappearance
March 11, 2017 – The Home Office grants Operation Grange an extra £85,000 to continue from April until September
September 28, 2017 – British police are granted £154,000 to keep the probe going until March 2018
November 2017 – Cops moved the search to Bulgaria
May 2018 – Another round of funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
September 2018 – An extra six months of funding is requested from the Home Office
November 2018 – More funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
November 2018 – UK police re-examine a theory Madeleine left the apartment to look for her parents
June 2019 – Another round of funding, believed to be £300,000 of government cash is granted
June 2019 – Portuguese police are probing a “new clue and suspect” after talks with British officers
June 2020 – New prime suspect revealed as a German paedo Christian Brueckner
April 2022 – Brueckner formally made an “arguido”
May 2023 – Police search remote Algarve reservoir Brueckner called his “little paradise”