Met Police Seek UK Trial for McCann Suspect Brueckner

London's Metropolitan Police are pressing to bring German national Christian Brueckner to trial in Britain for the abduction and suspected murder of three-year-old Madeleine McCann, who vanished from a resort in Portugal's Algarve region in May 2007.

Detectives aim to charge the 48-year-old by year's end and prosecute him at the Old Bailey, according to police sources. Brueckner, named the prime suspect by German authorities in 2020 while serving a prison sentence for assaulting a pensioner, was released in September 2025 after seven years behind bars. He lived about a mile from the Praia da Luz holiday apartment where Madeleine disappeared while sleeping with her younger siblings as her parents dined nearby.

The push faces significant obstacles. Germany's constitution bars extraditing its citizens to non-European Union countries like post-Brexit Britain, potentially sparking diplomatic tensions. If Berlin refuses, UK officers plan to pursue charges against Brueckner in Germany or Portugal, an EU member where extradition would be simpler. Police are compiling evidence for the Crown Prosecution Service and coordinating with German and Portuguese counterparts.