The contents of Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner’s abandoned lair has been revealed for the first time, 18 years after she went missing. Brueckner, the only suspect in the case, kept children’s clothes and toys, masks, chemicals, and guns, according to an investigation by The Sun. German investigators have revealed this information for the first time, but the contents of his hard drive remain a secret, as it is believed to contain evidence regarding Madeleine’s suspected death.
The evidence was found at an abandoned factory in Neuwegersleben, Germany, bought by Brueckner for £20,000 in 2008 – the year after Madeleine went missing. After a dog ran onto the property in 2016 and came across what looked like a grave, police were able to uncover Brueckner’s dead dog, along with a wallet, six USB sticks, and two memory cards.
This prompted 100 officers to launch a search of the factory after they saw the disturbing contents of the hard drives, in which there were records of his sick obsession with children.
He described drugging a mum and daughter outside a pre-school and abusing a four-year-old girl, and kept records of conversations with other paedophiles.
In one message, he told someone he wanted to “capture something small and use it for days”.
On top of disgusting child abuse images of girls aged four and five, Brueckner also hoarded more than 75 children’s swimming costumes, plus toys and bikes.
The paedophile also had creepy mock-up pictures of himself, a mask, and black-market guns and ammunition.
Brueckner’s satnav placed him in the Algarve in the years after Madeleine’s disappearance, and a picture links him to a key location 35 miles from where she vanished.
The suspect also signed a car insurance claim after he had a crash at a festival, where he allegedly told a friend that the young girl “did not scream”.
Months after the search, Brueckner was convicted of child abuse, and a year later, police were made aware of his potential connection to Madeleine.