McCann suspect Brueckner refuses Met interview ahead of release

The prime suspect in the disappearance of three year old Madeleine McCann has refused to be interviewed by the Metropolitan Police ahead of his planned release from a German prison, the force said, raising fresh concerns about the prospects for resolving one of Europe’s most enduring missing-person cases. German national Christian Brueckner, who has long been under investigation by authorities in Germany, Portugal and Britain, is due to be released from custody this week after serving a seven year sentence for the 2005 rape of an elderly woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, police said.

The Met confirmed it submitted an international letter of request asking to question Brueckner, but the man declined. Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell, the senior investigating officer on Operation Grange, said the force will continue to pursue "any viable lines of enquiry" in the absence of an interview. "We are aware of the pending release," he said, adding that the individual remains a suspect in the Metropolitan Police’s investigation into the 2007 disappearance from the Algarve resort where Madeleine was holidaying with her family.

German prosecutors have sought court measures to restrict...