British police officers involved in the hunt for Madeleine McCann will be asked to testify to the ongoing trial of prime suspect Christian Brueckner, MailOnline can exclusively reveal.
The sensational development means for the first time detectives from Scotland Yard who have been investigating the 2007 disappearance of then three year old Madeleine will have to disclose under oath what they know.
MailOnline has been told that the officer dealing with key witness Helge Busching, detective constable Mark Draycott, will be summoned to give testimony at Brueckner’s current trial for unrelated sex crimes.
Mr Draycott was the Scotland Yard officer who took Busching’s statement in 2017 in a hotel room in the Greek capital of Athens where he told police of his fears that Brueckner was involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.
At the time Busching, 50, had just been released from a people smuggling conviction and according to Greek media reports he contacted Operation Grange to tip them off about his suspicions.
British police officers involved in the hunt for Madeleine McCann will be asked to testify to the ongoing trial of prime suspect Christian Brueckner (pictured in court earlier this week), MailOnline can exclusively reveal
![Madeleine McCann (pictured) went missing on May 3, 2007 at the age of just three. She has never been found. German criminal Christian Brueckner has been named by German prosecutors as their chief suspect in her disappearance](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/12/10/81733817-13300605-Madeleine_McCann_pictured_went_missing_on_May_3_2007_at_the_age_-a-1_1712912659641.jpg)
![Madeleine McCann (pictured) went missing on May 3, 2007 at the age of just three. She has never been found. German criminal Christian Brueckner has been named by German prosecutors as their chief suspect in her disappearance](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/12/10/81733821-13300605-Madeleine_McCann_pictured_went_missing_on_May_3_2007_at_the_age_-a-2_1712912659642.jpg)
Madeleine McCann (pictured) went missing on May 3, 2007 at the age of just three. She has never been found. Criminal Christian Brueckner has been named by German prosecutors as their chief suspect in her disappearance
It was in this statement that he told Operation Grange that Brueckner, 47, said to him at a hippy festival in Orgiva, Spain, that Madeleine ‘didn’t scream’ when she was taken from the holiday apartment where she was staying.
Officers from Operation Grange contacted counterparts in Germany and Brueckner’s background convictions for rape and paedophile emerged and as a result he became the prime suspect.
In 2011 under the then Home Secretary, Theresa May, Scotland Yard was asked to take over the investigation following a request from her boss PM David Cameron and Operation Grange was set up.
Since then they have been given more than £13 million and last month MailOnline revealed they had applied for a further grant of £100,000 which was expected to be given the green light.
Sources close to Brueckner’s defence team have told MailOnline they have seen inconsistencies in what Busching told British police and what he told the court when he testified earlier this month.
They also want to know why Busching claims to be ‘under police protection’ when there is apparently no threat to him that they are aware of.
A source close to the legal team said: ‘We will be calling the British police from Operation Grange to give evidence – especially those officers that talked to Mr Helge Busching.
‘We want to know what he told them exactly and why what he told the court was different. This will be the first time that the court will have a chance to see what exactly is known about Brueckner.
‘We have been asking for files on the case for years but have seen nothing so let’s see what they have, they will have to come to court and talk under oath about what they know.’
The development comes after it was also revealed that a former British detective, Dave Edgar, who was hired by Kate and Gerry McCann from 2008 to 2011 when Scotland Yard took over, will also be questioned as part of Brueckner’s defence.
Busching claimed that he had called Mr Edgar in 2008 and tipped him off about Brueckner but he has no recollection of taking the call and told MailOnline that if he had ‘known the details he would have acted’.
In his evidence Busching told the court he had seen videos of Brueckner raping two women – one elderly and one younger – but they have never been recovered and defence lawyers doubt they exist.
He claimed he found the footage in 2006 and the following year Madeleine vanished from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz and her parents from Rothley, Leicestershire, have since led a worldwide campaign to find her.
![Pictured: The holiday complex where the McCanns were staying in Portugal's Algarve region in May 2007, when their three-year-old daughter vanished without a trace](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/12/10/81732915-13300605-Pictured_The_holiday_complex_where_the_McCanns_were_staying_in_P-a-3_1712912719178.jpg)
Pictured: The holiday complex where the McCanns were staying in Portugal’s Algarve region in May 2007, when their three-year-old daughter vanished without a trace
![On November 18 last year, prosecutors confirmed Brueckner would stand trial for various charges of sexual abuse against women aged between 10 and 80](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/12/10/81345835-13300605-On_November_18_last_year_prosecutors_confirmed_Brueckner_would_s-a-6_1712912832221.jpg)
On November 18 last year, prosecutors confirmed Brueckner would stand trial for various charges of sexual abuse against women aged between 10 and 80
It has since emerged that Busching is suffering from intestinal cancer and his prognosis by one witness was described as ‘bad’ meaning he may not live to give evidence at any future trial.
Brueckner is currently serving seven years for the rape of a elderly American woman on the Algarve and was jailed in 2019.
He is currently on trial for a string of sex attacks against women and children in the same area between 2000 and 2017 in Braunschweig, Germany, where he used to live.
MailOnline has contacted Scotland Yard for comment.
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