The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has complained that inmates in the jail where he is currently serving time are threatening to kill him.
Christian Brueckner, who is behind bars in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old American tourist, also moaned about having to buy his own pens from the prison shop and a lack of coffee creamer.
The 44-year-old – who has not been charged over Madeleine’s 2007 disappearance but has been identified by police as their suspect – made the complaints in a 14-page missive penned from a 8ft by 10ft cell at Oldenburg prison, near the city of Bremen.
Christian Brueckner (left), the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann (right), has complained that inmates of German jail where he is serving time want to kill him
German newspaper Bild obtained a copy of the letter and says Brueckner wrote that other inmates have learned who he is because of a documentary detailing his links to Madeleine’s disappearance.
Since then he has been subjected to verbal abuse and death threats, the letter says, including one man who walked up to him in a yard and threatened to murder him.
‘I am forcing myself to isolate myself because there is a high probability of a physical attack by fellow prisoners,’ he said. ‘It’s torture.’
Brueckner claims to only leave his cell for one hour every day for fear of being killed, and to avoid certain areas of the prison where prisoners could easily fashion weapons to attack him.
He also complained that prison guards confiscated a set of pens he was sent because they were a ‘safety hazard’, forcing him to buy his own from the shop.
And he is also said to have complained about a lack of coffee creamer.
The letter emerged just days after police sources said Operation Grange – the British inquiry into Madeleine’s disappearance – will be wrapped up later this year if no new lines of inquiry emerge before then.
Detectives are said to be frustrated by the failure to compile sufficient evidence to prosecute Brueckner despite publishing his name in the hopes of drawing out witnesses or others with information on him.
He denied any involvement in the disappearance of the youngster from an apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve.
Operation Grange, overseen by the Metropolitan Police, is estimated to have cost £13 million.
The Sun said it was understood that Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate, both 54, are aware of the impending closure but have vowed to continue their search.
Madeleine vanished from a holiday resort in the Portuguese town of Praia da Luz in 2007, with Brueckner named as the prime suspect
Brueckner is serving a seven-year jail sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old American tourist at the same resort where Madeleine disappeared – two years before she vanished.
The Operation Grange team has in recent years been pared down from 40 officers to just four detectives working under Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell.
His team also liaises with Madeleine’s parents, of Rothley, Leicsestershire.
In June 2020, police in Britain and Germany launched a renewed appeal for witnesses after disclosing they had a new suspect, who was later revealed to be Brueckner.
German prosecutors remain convinced he was responsible for the youngster’s disappearance but despite an intensive investigation have not brought any charges.
Brueckner also is alleged to have admitted abducting Madeleine to a friend – and the German team of investigators, led by public prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, said they were certain he had killed the three-year-old.
It is now highly unlikely that he will be charged over her disappearance.
Wolters went as far as holding a press conference where he addressed Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry over the air.
He insisted: ‘We are confident we have the man who took and killed your daughter. All I can do is ask for your patience.’
But claims German detectives had sent multiple notes to Madeleine’s family were rubbished within days.
And the Met itself released a pointed statement correcting the allegations about the correspondence.
It said last year: ‘The Met received one letter from the BKA [Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany] on June 12, which was passed to the family.
‘The letter did not state that there was evidence or proof that Madeleine is dead, the MPS continues to investigate Madeleine’s disappearance as a missing person investigation. No letter has been received by the Met from the German prosecutor.’
In fact in May last year, Kate and Gerry restated they still believed she could be alive.
A statement that month said: ‘The Covid pandemic has made this year even more difficult for many reasons but thankfully the investigation to find Madeleine and her abductor has continued.
Parents Kate (left) and Gerry McCann say that – despite 15 years elapsing since they last saw their daughter – they still hold out hope that she is alive
Brueckner was in Praia da Luz when Madeleine went missing on the night of May 3, 2007, pinpointed there by a mobile phone call (file image, the family’s apartment)
‘We hang on to the hope, however small, that we will see Madeleine again. As we have said repeatedly, we need to know what has happened to our lovely daughter, no matter what. We are very grateful to the police for their continued efforts.’
Brueckner is currently serving a prison sentence for drug trafficking and is expected to remain behind bars until 2026 after losing a bid to overturn a rape conviction.
He was last year found guilty of the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American woman in the same Portuguese resort from which Madeleine vanished and sentenced to seven years in jail, at a court in Brunswick, Lower Saxony.
Brueckner was in Praia da Luz when Madeleine went missing on the night of May 3, 2007, pinpointed there by a mobile phone call.
Madeleine – then aged three – disappeared from an apartment where she was staying with her family.
Kate and Gerry, had been dining with friends in a nearby restaurant and periodically checking on Madeleine and her two siblings – Sean and Amelie – as they slept.
Around 9pm, Gerry went to check on the children and found them sleeping. At 9.30pm, a family friend went to the apartment and heard no noise, but did not check far enough into the room to see if Madeleine was there.
At 10pm, Kate went to check on the children and found Maddie was gone.
The disappearance was reported immediately and a search party launched the same evening including officers from the Guarda Nacional Republicana and the Polícia Judiciária, which launched an investigation.
Amaral was brought in to head that investigation and ran it for several months, infamously naming both Kate and Gerry as suspects.
He was sacked shortly after launching a public attack on British detectives – accusing them of only pursuing investigative lines given to them by the McCanns.
He has since published a book and appeared in a documentary called ‘The Truth of the Lie’ in which he repeated his claims against the McCanns.
The family won a libel suit against him in 2015, and were awarded £500,000 in damages.
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