Chief suspect Madeleine McCann disappearance is charged with five sex offences in Portugal

THE chief suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been charged in Germany with several sexual offences allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017, German prosecutors have revealed.

The public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig today announced five charges, not connected to Madeleine McCann, against German national Christian Brueckner, 45, for several sexual offenses between December 28, 2000 and June 11, 2017 in Portugal.

Translated from German a press release said: "The accused is the same person against also linked to the disappearance of then three-year-old British girl Madeleine Beth McCann on 03/05/2007 from an apartment complex in Praia da Luz in Portugal is being investigated on suspicion of murder."

He has been charged with three acts rape and two acts of sexual abuse of children.

The accused is currently serving a 7-year prison sentence for a rape, which he also committed in Portugal in 2005.

One of the alleged offences against a ten-year-old girl was less than a month before Maddie went missing.

New charges:

1. "At a point in time that cannot be determined in more detail between December 28, 2000 and 08.04.2006 an unknown approximately 70-80 year old woman in her Holiday apartment in Portugal in their bedroom was tied up and raped by the accused in a mask. She was allegedly hit several times with a whip.

He is alleged to have video recorded the entire event.

2. On another day between December 28th, 2000, which can no longer be determined exactly and 08.04.2006 the accused is said to have raped a German-speaking girl of at least 14 years in his home in Praia da Luz in Portugal after she was tied naked to a wooden pole. She was also beaten and hit with a whip, with the incident recorded, it is alleged.

3. On June 16, 2004 at around 3:00 a.m. the accused is said to have gone to Praia da Rocha in Portugal and accessed via the balcony an apartment where a 20-year-old Irish woman was sleeping before, while wearing a mask, he raped her at knifepoint, gagged her and tied her to a table before raping her again and whipped her with some of it recorded. He allegedly fled over the balcony.

4. On April 7, 2007 at around 3:30 p.m., the accused is said to have been on a section of beach from Salema in Faro District in Portugal, naked apart from shoes, when he grabbed a ten-year-old German girl and sexually abused her before he let go and she fled.

5. On June 11, 2017, at around 2am during a Snail Festival, the accused exposed himself to a girl, 11, who ran to her father for help.

It added that he was arrested by Portuguese Police but it is not clear what happened.

Hans Christian Wolters, First Prosecutor spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig, said a more than 100-page indictment had been produced after "extensive investigations in several European countries." He added that "the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance is ongoing".