The Metropolitan Police is reportedly pushing for the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann to face trial in the UK. Detectives are said to be pressing for German national Christian Brueckner, 48, to be extradited to Britain, believing they can gather enough evidence for the Crown Prosecution Service to charge him with abduction and murder.
However, a Met request to bring him to the UK for trial at the Old Bailey could be blocked by Berlin. Article 26 of the German constitution prevents the extradition of its citizens to non-EU countries. Prior to Brexit, Brueckner could have been extradited without complication, but now the Met must rely on the reciprocal extradition agreement between Britain and Germany, which came into force in 2021.
The Met is also exploring other options. Detectives could hand over evidence to Portuguese authorities, who, as an EU state, could extradite Brueckner from Germany. The German national was sentenced for the rape of a pensioner but released last year. While incarcerated, he was named as a prime suspect in Madeleine's disappearance, but German authorities have so far failed to charge him.
Hans Christian Wolters, who headed the German investigation into Brueckner, has repeatedly claimed there is concrete evidence against the sex offender but has never managed to charge him. Nick Vamos, former head of extradition at the CPS, told The Telegraph: "Germany participates in the streamlined EU-wide extradition arrangements with the UK that were agreed after Brexit. However, Germany is one of 10 EU countries that chose to impose a 'nationality bar' and refuses to extradite its own citizens. This is a constitutional bar under German law so cannot be lifted or waived however serious the offence or strong the evidence."
This weekend marked the 19th anniversary of Madeleine McCann's disappearance from her parents' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. In a Facebook post, her parents Kate and Gerry McCann wrote: "19 years. The search goes on… to find our Madeleine, to achieve some justice, to make the world that bit safer." The Met launched Operation Grange in 2011 to investigate the disappearance, which has cost over £13 million. A spokesman said: "We remain in close working discussion with policing colleagues in Germany and Portugal. We will continue to pursue any viable lines of enquiry."
