Prosecutors admit they still cannot prove paedophile Christian Brueckner snatched Madeleine McCann, a friend has claimed.
Three years since naming him as their prime suspect, German authorities are re-interviewing his associates as they struggle to get enough evidence, the pal says.
The friend, who knew Brueckner in the Algarve, told the Mirror: “They say they know he did it, but they told me they don’t have proof. It felt like they’re struggling.”
Another friend, still based in the Algarve where Madeleine went missing aged three in 2007, said: “They said they wanted to make sure they hadn’t missed anything.”
Brueckner, 46, who denies any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance, is serving seven years for rape and was charged last October with five further sex crimes allegedly carried out in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
But the Mirror can reveal a German legal wrangle is threatening to delay any trial for months and could result in the Madeleine probe being handed over to new prosecutors.
Prosecutors in Braunschweig are overseeing the case because Brueckner’s last registered address was in the city in 2016.
His lawyer Friedrich Fuelscher is said to want it transferred to Lower Saxony where he says Brueckner was living in Neuwegersleben.
But Braunschweig prosecutor Hans-Christian Wolters said the case files would be transferred with any move.
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