Madeleine McCann suspect could escape prosecution
The man identified as the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann's alleged abduction could escape charges due to time limit laws in Portugal which prevent prosecutions after 15 years.
The suspect, Christian Brueckner, who is a convicted rapist and paedophile, denies allegations he was involved in the then three-year-old's disappearance in 2007.
Legal experts would have to declare Brueckner an “official suspect” by May 3, 2022— the date Madeleine McCann vanished— for him to be prosecuted, according to legal experts.
Lawyer Spencer Dohner from MDM Legal told The Sun that Portugal’s statute of limitations states that a crime resulting in 10 or more years' jail time “cannot generally be prosecuted once 15 years has passed”.
Mr Dohner explained that if Madeleine was murdered the cut-off for a suspect being prosecuted would be 15 years after her disappearance, which would be May 3, 2022.
“If she were found alive and had been the victim of sex crimes as a minor, legal proceedings could take place until she was 23," he said.
If Madeleine was found alive, she would now be 18.
Another lawyer told The Sun that it's possible no one will be charged for her disappearance.
"Our statute of limitations brings with it the probability that within a matter of weeks, the person responsible for her disappearance may never be brought to justice in the country where she vanished even with an arrest and confession," the lawyer said.
Inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance will end this year
German police identified Brueckner as a prime suspect in Madeleine's disappearance in 2020. Prosecutors were “very confident” they would be able to charge him at the time.
"If you knew the evidence we had you would come to the same conclusion as I do,” lead investigator Hans Christian Wolters told the BBC in 2020.
“What we have so far doesn't allow any other conclusion at all.”
Brueckner is in prison for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz, the Portuguese town Madeleine disappeared from 14 years ago.
In March it was reported that Operation Grange, which was launched in 2011 by the Metropolitan Police, will come to an end this year and it's unlikely Brueckner will be charged.
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