The prime suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance is set to walk free from prison thanks to a German secret agent who “felt sorry” for him, according to reports. Rebecca K, 39, said she knew Christian Brueckner was a convicted racist and paedophile when she shelled out £1,300 to pay his court fine but was worried his “human rights” had been violated. Brueckner, who was jailed for the rape of an elderly woman in Portugal seven years ago, could be released as early as next week as a result.
Police are reportedly worried that the 48-year-old will disappear after he is released from prison, as they continue to treat him as the main suspect in three-year-old Madeleine’s disappearance. Ms K was part of the FBI team monitoring Brueckner in relation to the McCann case, which has continued to transfix the nation 17 years on from the night Maddie vanished from a holiday resort on the Algarve. After the 39-year-old’s career lost steam, however, she decided to financially support the suspect in an extraordinary shift of allegiance, The Sun reports.
This included paying the fines owed by the 48-year-old in relation to cases of assault, drunkenness and document forgery. “I felt sorry for him,” she explained.
“He claimed he had been tortured and I believed his human rights might have been infringed. I thought his human rights had been violated in the same way I felt my human rights had been violated by my former colleagues.”
Ms K admitted being motivated by a fall-out with her team at the Bundes-kriminalamt (BKA), Germany’s equivalent of the FBI, to launch a campaign of support for Brueckner, which also involved handing over information about the Maddie case to his legal team – something she insisted was an “honest mistake”.
“When I paid the fine, I knew Brueckner was a convicted, violent rapist and child abuser, but his lawyer told me that he denies everything, and it was maybe wrong,” she said.
The 39-year-old also argued that an early discharge might “put pressure” on the police and force them to bring charges against him over the McCann case.
Brueckner has long-denied involvement with Madeleine’s disappearance but officers believe he was living near the Praia da Luz resort when the three-year-old disappeared.
His current jail sentence for the rape of an American woman in 2005 also took place near the tourist spot, where Madeleine was thought to have been kidnappped in May 2007.
Before Ms K paid the convicted sex offender’s fines, he was scheduled for release in December. Now, the latest he could be kept in jail is September 17, meaning he will almost certainly walk free within the next week.
