A van driven by the prime suspect in Madeline McCann’s disappearance is being examined by the German police.
The white Mercedes Sprinter was pictured parked at Christian Bruckener’s ‘lair’ after Maddie vanished – and the police are examining it in the hope it may still contain DNA or crucial clues.
It was leased by the Rosier dealership to Bruckner between 2014 and 2015, and an employee who took the van back told The Sun they ‘cleaned it and repaired it’ however claimed ‘it wouldn’t have been wiped of all DNA’.
The employee said there could be ‘hairs and other traces of anyone who was kept inside’ which could be found by Germany’s federal police – the BKA.
A van driven by the prime suspect in Madeline McCann’s disappearance (Christian Brueckner, pictured) is being examined by the German police
Christian Brueckner (pictured) is a suspect in the disappearance of Madeline McCann
Three-year-old Madeleine McCann (pictured), who vanished in Praia da Luz in 2007
A white Mercedes Sprinter van 9 (pictured), similar to one police say Christian Brueckner had while living in Portugal, was stored by him on the site of a derelict factory in Germany
It has previously been claimed that the paedophile, who was living in the Algarve when three-year-old Maddie disappeared in 2007, took one van and two cars back to his home country where he disposed of them after she vanished.
Among them was a white Mercedes Sprinter van which was similar to one police say he owned in Portugal, with photos obtained by The Sun showing it parked in woodland in East Germany.
The exact date the vehicles were moved back to Germany is not known, with sources claiming he would often visit a scrapyard that was close to his secret hideout where he was found to have horrific images and videos.
The owners of the scrapyard, which has since closed down, claimed it was not a secret that Brueckner had used the site but police still had not contacted them about him.
It is thought Brueckner used the van at the time that five-year-old Inga Gerhricke vanished from a family picnic in 2015. He was investigated by the police between 2016 and 2020.
He didn’t have an alibi and was involved in an accident an hour away the day before the girl, referred to as the ‘German Maddie’. went missing.
The case remains unsolved and Brueckner hasn’t been officially discounted as a suspect.
Blonde haired, blue-eyed Inga Gehricke disappeared on May 2, 2015 during a family barbecue in a forest in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt state.
It is thought Brueckner used the van at the time that five-year-old Inga Gerhricke vanished from a family picnic in 2015. He was investigated by the police between 2016 and 2020
He didn’t have an alibi and was involved in an accident an hour away the day before the girl, referred to as the ‘German Maddie’. went missing
The case quickly drew comparisons with the 2007 disappearance of Madeline McCann, who vanished from her family’s apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, at the age of three.
Despite extensive searches, media coverage and nationwide appeals, Inga – like Madeleine – has never been found, with the mystery still hanging over Germany today.
At the time of her disappearance, Brueckner lived in a caravan at the site of an abandoned factory in Neuwegersleben around 68 miles from where Inga vanished.
Brueckner is currently on trial for a catalogue of offences on Portugal’s Algarve coast between 2000 and 2017 which are unrelated to Madeleine’s disappearance.
These include the rape of an Irish holiday rep, a woman aged between 70 and 80, and an unknown girl aged around 14, as well as the sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl. Brueckner denies all the charges against him.
The paedophile had bought an abandoned factory in the former East German settlement of Neuwegersleben, with sources saying he was known to store vehicles there.
The scrapyard where he is said to have disposed of his vehicles was located in Helmstedt, a 25 minute drive away from the site.
Madeleine McCann (pictured) went missing on May 3, 2007, during a holiday in Praia da Luz
Brueckner was been named as the chief suspect in the vanishing of Madeleine
A source told the The Sun that the 47-year-old’s white van was ‘well-known locally’ and used the large rear section to have ‘hook-ups’ with women who he met online.
They added: ‘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.’
Brueckner, who lived in a trailer on the factory site, was found to have disturbing videos and images on a memory card when it was searched by police in 2016.
The owner of the scrapyard told The Sun: ‘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.’
Brueckner has been named as the chief suspect in the vanishing of Madeleine, who vanished from Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.
He has not been charged over her disappearance and has denied having anything to do with it.
Brueckner is currently serving a seven year sentence for raping an elderly US woman on the Algarve in 2005 and was jailed in 2019.
Brueckner is currently on trial in Germany accused of multiple rapes and sexual assaults
Brueckner (pictured) was hiding his face as he arrived in a van with a police escort and was swept inside for the start of a hearing and escorted into the courtroom flanked by guards
He is currently on trial in Germany for a catalogue of sexual offences in Portugal over the course of more than a decade, with two former friends who gave evidence in that helped convict him before set to testify at his new trial.
The victims include holiday rep Hazel Behan, another woman aged between 70 and 80, and an unknown girl of around 14, as well as a 10-year-old girl who is said to have been assaulted on a beach close to where Madeleine disappeared and another child.
The alleged attacks took place just minutes from where then three-year-old Madeleine vanished from the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007 where she was staying with parents Kate and Gerry and her siblings.