MADDIE BOMBSHELL
Chief Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner worked in hotels around resort where she disappeared, court hears
Scroll down to read Manfred Seyferth's interview with The Sun about Brueckner and Maddie
MADELEINE McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner worked in hotels near the resort where she disappeared, a key witness said today.
Manfred Seyferth, who told The Sun he thinks Brueckner snatched Maddie, said that the convicted paedo regularly robbed the hotels where he worked as a waiter.
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Brueckner's former pal revealed today that he had a job near the Praia da Luz area - following claims this week that he had even worked in the Ocean Club where the McCanns stayed.
Seyferth, 68, said Brueckner would steal money and possessions from people's holiday apartments - including a video camera he later used to film sick sexual exploits.
The drifter, who is crucial to the ongoing Maddie investigation, was giving evidence as Brueckner faces a string of other rape charges.
He told the court about abuse he saw recorded by Bruecker - included the brute beating a naked old woman with a ruler.
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And he described watching grim clips of the convicted rapist dancing around a girl while she was tied to a post, before forcing her to perform a sex act on him.
Seyferth, along with another former pal Helge Busching, served as a key witness in Christian's 2019 rape trial and later conviction.
The pair had ransacked Brueckner's Algarve home together in 2006, uncovering the camera which Seyferth today said contained footage of an "old woman who was being abused and a young girl being abused.”
He was pals with Brueckner, 47, when they lived near Praia da Luz, in Portugal, around the time Maddie vanished in 2007.
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He previously spoke to The Sun about the convicted paedo and dubbed him an "evil man" and a "psychopath" who he thinks kidnapped Madeleine 17 years ago.
Answering questions in court today he said: “Helge showed me the tape. He came with a camera - an old model, a big kind of one.
He forced her to perform a sex act on him then when she was unwell he said ‘you are ruining my carpet’
Manfred Seyferth, former friend of Brueckner
“I tried to push the abuse out of my mind. I just said ‘throw the fucking thing away’.
“When I looked I saw the old woman and this girl who was tied up. I saw woman on a table and he hit her on the breast with a ruler.
“She was totally naked but you could only make out her breast and face.
“I recognised Christian Brueckner in the video - I could tell from the voice. It was just the way he spoke."
The witness continued: “I saw Brueckner directly in his face in one of the videos. And I could tell it was him from his voice in the other video.”
“And then there was a second person, a girl in Brueckner’s home.
“She was tied to a post and Brueckner was dancing around her.
“He forced her to perform a sex act on him then when she was unwell he said ‘you are ruining my carpet’.”
Brueckner showed no reaction as a picture of the pole he allegedly tied a teenage girl to, to rape her was shown in court.
The thin-lipped creep stared intently images of the house where videos of his abuse were uncovered calmly holding a hand across his mouth.
I think he may have something to do with Maddie. He broke in and saw her and because he likes young girls — he’s got lots of convictions — he took her
Manfred Seyferth to The Sun, 2020
Describing how they came across the grim find in 2006, Seyferth said: “In the house I found a gun and then Helge came with a camera and something small but I don't know what it was.
“I wasn’t there when Helge took the camera - I wasn’t in the house so I’m not sure which room he got it from.
And he said “After everything I have see Brueckner must go to jail.”
Brueckner's former pal claimed that he pushed the videos from his mind until detectives from Scotland Yard tracked him down to Greece.
He admitted: “They were there for three days and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it.”
He said he sent cops away - but was confronted by the German FBI (BKA) when he went to the German consulate in Greece to get a new passport and then engaged with investigators.
He admitted talking to co-witness Helge Busching by phone on Thursday - raising questions about whether the BKA had helped them get in touch to confer over their accounts.
He was expected to reveal today what the convicted paedophile was doing around the time of Irish holiday rep Hazel Behan's rape in 2006.
Prosecutors were said to be privately nervous over how the heavy-drinker's credibility would hold up in court over cross-examination.
His account also had to match Busching's - with fears the defence would be able to pick holes in both.
The credibility of their testimonies could be vital to seeing Brueckner charged over Maddie.
Seyferth spoke to The Sun about his twisted former friend Brueckner: “I never liked him and he is a psychopath. He is obsessed with small children and I didn’t like it.
“He always had a young girlfriend with him and I think he is easily capable of taking a small child.
“That’s why I think he may have something to do with Maddie. He broke in and saw her and because he likes young girls — he’s got lots of convictions — he took her.”
German prosecutors are nervous over failing in any Madeleine case, which could see the suspect walk free in less than two years.
Key dates in Madeleine McCann's disappearance
MADELEINE McCann vanished on May 3, 2007 - and cops believe Brueckner could have been behind her disappearance.
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"
Today Brueckner's defence team were given a hard drive said to contain child abuse images from the German FBI, the BKA.
The data storage was uncovered at the paedophile’s box factory lair when he was named as a suspect in 2020 - but prosecutors resisted handing it over for years.
Brueckner’s lawyers are fighting for the images it contains to be ruled out of use in the trial.
No pictures of Maddie have ever been confirmed to be on the drive.
In 2007, Seyferth lived in a caravan next to Christian's house, a few minutes drive from Praia da Luz.
He told The Sun that he didn't see paedophile and rapist Brueckner for months after Madeleine disappeared.
And reflecting on their life of crime together, Seyferth said: “We called him ‘The Climber’ because of his skills.
“He was an expert at getting into apartments and hotel rooms.
“Christian was athletic and he was strong. I saw him many times climb up to first and second-floor apartments and break in."
If Brueckner is convicted on his current charges he faces up to 15 years behind bars, giving prosecutors the safety net for the Maddie case they want to pursue.
Brueckner was snapped appearing at Braunschweig regional court today where he faces charges for raping Irish holiday rep Behan at knifepoint after tying her to a table and whipping her on camera.
The convicted rapist was seen peering from the window of a barred police van as he pulled up to court.
He is also accused of tying a teenage girl to a post in the same resort Maddie was snatched from and forcing her to perform a sex act.
During a Praia de Luz raid - in the years before Madeleine disappeared - Brueckner is said to have raped a woman aged as old as 80 and hit her with a whip, filming the attacks on both victims.
The defendant is also said to have performed a sex act on himself in front of a child on a park-swing and made threats towards a prison guard.
He is also charged with grabbing the wrist of a child on a beach six miles from Praia, just weeks before Maddie vanished - and a further charge of insulting a prison guard.
Brueckner denies all charges and the trial continues.
Just days ago Brueckner was seen striding into court in handcuffs before the trial was adjourned after a judge's "kill the b*****d" rant was read out in court.
Only nine minutes into the hearing was the trial axed as Brueckner's lawyer fought to discredit one of the lay-judges who was set to help decide his verdict.
Dr Fülscher claimed she had called for the assassination of a president on social media.
He said the woman had written “kill the b*****d now” and "kill the devil", referring to Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro.
Dr Fülscher said the remark meant she was unfit to sit on the case and could not be relied upon as far as his client was concerned.
German criminal Brueckner is already behind bars serving a seven-year sentence for rape.
Investigators believe he abducted and murdered Madeleine 17 years ago - but no charges have been filed against him.
It has been four years since he was officially identified as the main suspect in the horrific case.
The sickening paedophile first commented on the case weeks ago, branding it "ridiculous".
He also remorselessly ridiculed cops saying: "I hope (they) will find some answers to (their) questions soon."
Brueckner was recently moved from Oldenburg prison in northern Germany to Schnedebruch near Hannover, according to .
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He said: "My situation didn't change at all. I just moved prison. I'm still totally isolated. Since (sic) more than two years now.
"I'm still not allowed to talk with anybody else then to my lawyers and to my punishers (guards)."
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