Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner 'boasted to cellmate he kidnapped 13-year-old girl and sexually assaulted her months before Maddie vanished', trial will be told

The main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann bragged to his prison cellmate that he had kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl just a few months before Madeleine vanished. 

Christian Brueckner, on trial in Braunschweig, Germany, accused of three rapes and two counts of sexual abuse of children between 2000 and 2017 that took place at the same resort Madeleine was taken from, bragged that he had kidnapped and tied a girl to a post after she ran away from a youth camp.  

Prison cellmate Michael Tatschl will reportedly tell the court that Brueckner boasted that she was just 13 when he held her for four days at his home in Praia da Luz, the same Algarve resort Madeleine disappeared from in 2007. 

Tatschl lived with Brueckner at the farmhouse, after both being released from prison in December 2006. 

A source told the Sun said: 'Tatschl will say Brueckner told him he talked the girl into getting into a car with him and kept her four days.

'He will tell the court Brueckner told him he tied the girl to a pole and sexually abused her.'

Brueckner's pattern of strange and sickening behaviour has been laid bare for the world to see, with a former friend revealing that the alleged kidnapper had CDs at his home with labels on them that suggested they contained child and animal pornography.

Former friend Christian Post who used to associate with Brueckner in Portugal told a German court: 'It was clear from the labels on the CDs what was on them, which suggested to me that there things which involved young people.

'But I only saw it quickly and I found it all too shabby. So I threw these away. I didn't watch them personally. I just saw the label then made a decision.

'Some were pornographic practices,' Post told the court. 'One thing that I noticed involved dogs, so this is [one] thing which I then threw away.

'I can't remember the full details but there were some things like this, and I didn't want to risk transporting something like this.'

He described how he had seen 'piles of paperwork and passports' at Brueckner's home and recalled how he had boasted to him of his breaking and entering skills on the Algarve where Madeleine vanished from while on holiday in 2007.

It is believed Madeleine was taken from her family's holiday home while her parents were at a nearby restaurant.

Post said: 'He said that during the night he was active in Praia da Luz. He said he would climb up buildings when the windows were open and take stuff.'

Brueckner is currently behind bars after being convicted of raping a 72-year-old American woman in the Algarve in 2005 just a few miles from where Madeleine would disappear two years later.

German police are convinced he kidnapped and killed Madeleine, and investigations have continued years after her disappearance - with the most recent high-profile searches taking place at the Arade Lake 30 miles from Praia da Luz.

Brueckner himself has repeatedly denied any involvement in her disappearance and his lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher, has hit out at the accusations - warning that they risk muddying the waters of Brueckner's unconnected continuing trial.

He said last month in court that the paedophile had been under 'worldwide media fire' since being named by German police as a key suspect in Madeleine's disappearance in 2020 - with no charges yet brought against him.