Court rules suspect in Madeleine McCann case can leave Germany

A man under investigation in the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann is allowed to leave Germany, a court said, overturning one of the conditions under which he was released after serving a sentence in an unrelated case.

The German national, who has been identified by media as Christian Brückner, was released in mid-September after serving a sentence that stemmed from his 2019 conviction for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal.

A court in Hildesheim at the time imposed conditions for a five-year period, including that he wear an electronic ankle monitor and report regularly to probation services and remain resident in Germany.

On Monday (local time), a higher state court in Celle said that it upheld most of those conditions imposed in the October 28 ruling, but overturned the stipulation that he must reside in Germany. It said that it interfered with European Union citizens' freedom of movement within the 27-nation bloc.

It added that it would, in principle, be possible to issue a temporary ban on the man leaving Germany, for example, to “arrange technical matters”, or to ban him from going to specific regions, but that the lower court in Hildesheim would have to decide exactly what arrangements to make.

In June 2020, German prosecutors said the man was being investigated on suspicion of murder in connection with McCann’s disappearance from an apartment complex in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz. They said they assumed the girl was dead.

Police have since carried out more searches in Portugal, where the man spent many years. But the suspect, who has denied any involvement in the three-year-old's disappearance, has not been charged in the case. The investigation wasn't affected by his release.

Friedrich Fülscher, the man's lawyer, has said charges would have been filed against his client long ago if there had been sufficient evidence.