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VAN SCRAP RIDDLE
Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner took vehicles he owned when she vanished back to Germany and SCRAPPED them
Sources say he then regularly visited a scrapyard near his home there to dispose of cars and vans
VEHICLES owned by Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner in Portugal when she vanished there were taken to Germany and scrapped.
And our exclusive picture shows a white Mercedes Sprinter van — like the one cops said he had in the Algarve — parked at a creepy woodland site he later bought.
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The paedophile took a Mercedes van, VW estate and Opel Ascona back to his home country, our investigation has found.
It was not known exactly when.
Sources say he then regularly visited a scrapyard near his home there to dispose of cars and vans.
It was understood German cops were told in 2020 he used it when he was first publicly named as a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of Madeleine, three, from an Algarve holiday apartment.
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But he was aware from 2013 that his name had been given to the Madeleine investigators so it is possible he could have scrapped them between then and 2020.
The scrapyard, in nearby Helmstedt, has since shut.
We tracked down the owners who said they still have a decade of records — and admitted they were “surprised” they had never heard from cops.
Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner facing trial for alleged rape of Irish mum Hazel Behan
Brueckner was known to store vehicles at his derelict box factory in Neuwegersleben.
Most read in The Sun
A source said: “We know he brought some back from Portugal and drove them around for years.
"His white van was well-known locally. He drove it round with a mattress in the back for when he arranged hook-ups online with women.
“He told me he regularly took old vehicles to the scrapyard in Helmstedt but of course no one thought anything of it at the time.”
He bought the abandoned factory in the former communist East Germany in 2010 and is believed to have lived in a trailer there.
A 2016 police search uncovered disturbing images and videos on memory cards in a Lidl plastic bag beneath the corpse of one of his dogs.
Clothing including swimwear in children’s sizes were also found.
Rape and child abuse charges
Multiple sources confirmed at least two other vehicles had come back from Portugal with Brueckner.
The owner of the scrapyard, who did not want to be named, told The Sun on Sunday: “German law requires that you keep all records for at least ten years.
“But the thing is, none of the police divisions came round to ask us anything, which you could say is surprising.”
German investigators last night confirmed they were still pursuing any vehicles linked to Brueckner.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Brueckner is in jail in Germany for rape and also now on trial for other rape and child abuse charges which have emerged as part of the Madeleine investigation.
He denies any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
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Key dates in Madeleine McCann's disappearance
MADELEINE McCann vanished on May 3, 2007 - and cops believe Brueckner could have been behind her disappearace.
Almost 17 years on, no one has been charged in connection. These are the key dates:
May 3, 2007 - Kate McCann finds Madeleine missing at 10pm
May 14, 2007 - Property developer Robert Murat is named an "arguido" or formal suspect
August 31, 2007 - The McCanns launch libel action against Tal e Qual - a newspaper that claimed the couple killed Madeleine
September 7, 2007 - Kate and Gerry McCann are made "arguidos"
September 9, 2007- Madeleine's parents return to England with their two-year-old twins
October 2, 2007- Lead detective Goncalo Amaral is taken off the case after criticising British police in a newspaper interview
July 21, 2009 - Portuguese police lift the "arguido" status of both Robert Murat and the McCanns
May 12, 2011 - On Madeleine's eighth birthday, Scotland Yard launches a review into the case
April 25, 2012 - Scotland Yard officers say they believe Madeleine McCann is still alive
July 4, 2013 - Two years into a review of the case, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation into Madeleine's disappearance
October 24, 2013- Portuguese police reopen their case after new lines of inquiry are found
November 27, 2013 - Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for British and Portuguese police to work together
October 28, 2015 - Scotland Yard reduces the number of officers working on Madeleine's disappearance
March 11, 2017 - The Home Office grants Operation Grange an extra £85,000 to continue from April until September
September 28, 2017 - British police are granted £154,000 to keep the probe going until March 2018
November 2017 - Cops moved the search to Bulgaria
May 2018 - Another round of funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
September 2018 - An extra six months of funding is requested from the Home Office
November 2018 - More funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
November 2018 - UK police re-examine a theory Madeleine left the apartment to look for her parents
June 2019 - Another round of funding, believed to be £300,000 of government cash is granted
June 2019 - Portuguese police are probing a “new clue and suspect” after talks with British officers
June 2020 - New prime suspect revealed as a German paedo Christian Brueckner
April 2022 - Brueckner formally made an "arguido"
May 2023 - Police search remote Algarve reservoir Brueckner called his "little paradise"
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