Portuguese police have accused German cops of having no evidence that Christian Brueckner abducted Madeleine McCann, according to a leaked memo.
Officers from the Policia Judiciaria said they were ‘shocked’ after being briefed on the German case against Brueckner, adding there is ‘no evidence, just speculation’.
Portuguese detectives believe the allegations against Brueckner are designed to ‘keep him in prison at all costs’, and accused their German counterparts of failing to conduct a serious investigation.
German prosecutors have ‘no evidence, only specualtion’ that Christian Brueckner (left) is responsible for kidnapping Madeleine MacCann, according to a leaked memo (right, German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters)
The extraordinary claims were contained in a memo prepared by Portuguese police after meeting with German BKA detectives and investigators from Scotland Yard.
A leaked copy of the memo was shown to The Sun.
In public, German authorities have said they are convinced that Brueckner snatched Madeleine from her parents’ holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007.
Prosecutors also say they have ‘concrete evidence’ that the toddler is dead.
But in the memo, a Portuguese officer writes: ‘There is no evidence, just speculation.
‘When reading the German case I was shocked. I never thought that the BKA would investigate so badly.
‘The meeting was to get the point of the situation, the BKA wants to investigate the other two cases of possible sexual harassment, so that the suspect does not leave prison until the end of the year and they will drop the suspect.
‘It is not a serious and objective investigation, but only just to keep the suspect in prison at all costs.’
Portuguese police have been accused of bungling the investigation, including pursuing the theory that Madeleine’s parents – Kate and Jerry – were responsible.
Goncalo Amaral was fired over his handling of the investigation, and successfully sued by the McCanns after pushing the theory they were responsible in a book.
Hans Christian Wolters, the prosecutor leading the German case, was forced to admit last month that the evidence they have gathered is not strong enough to see Brueckner charged.
Maddie McCann disappeared after she left in her family’s hotel room at a resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007
He added that they are ‘one witness’ away from getting the evidence they need, but so far nobody has come forward.
Prosecutors announced Brueckner as their new prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance in June this year, 13 years after she vanished.
They said Brueckner – who has previous convictions for child abuse and rape – was known to be in the Algarve the year that Madeleine disappeared.
Detectives say phone data proves Brueckner was near the Praia da Luz resort when Madeleine vanished, but have not yet revealed a ‘smoking gun’ proving that he is the one who took her.
Asked last month whether forensic evidence can place Brueckner inside the flat where Madeleine vanished, he said: ‘I have an answer but we have decided not to divulge this information.
‘I can’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as that would bring a thousand other questions and I cannot go into details.
‘But you have to believe me when I say we have more evidence.
‘Here in Germany our Public Ministry only divulges things when they are solid.’
Brueckner is in prison in Germany for raping an American tourist in 2005 in the same resort where Madeleine went missing. He is appealing the conviction.
He has previously been convicted of child abuse, rape and various drug offences.
A family friend of the McCann’s said comments from Mr Wolters were heartbreaking.
They told The Mirror: ‘It feels like he is trying to lower expectations after coming out all guns blazing.’
Brueckner, who lived in the resort of Praia da Luz at the same time as Maddie’s disappearance, has previously said he is innocent of any crime relating to the four-year-old.