What we know so far about German suspect in
'Maddie' case
AFP
news@thelocal.de
@thelocalgermany
5 June 2020
08:48
CEST+02:00
What we
know so far about German suspect in 'Maddie' case
A police
handout shows the type of camper van they believe belonged to the suspect.
Photo: DPA
The man
suspected by German authorities of murdering missing British girl Madeleine
McCann has a history of child sex abuse and a conviction for raping a
72-year-old American woman in Portugal in 2005, according to court documents.
German
police have revealed they are investigating a 43-year-old German with a long
criminal past over the disappearance of three-year-old "Maddie" from
the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz in 2007.
The
suspect, named as Christian B. by German media, is currently in prison in the
northern city of Kiel serving a sentence for drug trafficking, DPA news agency
reported on Thursday.
He has
completed almost two thirds of his sentence and is therefore close to a
decision on a possible release on probation, according to documents from
Germany's Federal Court of Justice (BGH) seen by AFP.
However,
that decision depends on the outcome of another case against him concerning the
rape of a 72-year-old American tourist in 2005 -- in the same seaside village
of Praia da Luz.
Christian
B. allegedly broke into her house, tied her up and gagged her, beat her for
about 15 minutes with a metal object, then raped her and finally forced her to
hand over cash.
A court in
Braunschweig sentenced him to seven years in prison last December. However,
this sentence has not yet been finalised pending a dispute about extradition
technicalities.
Madeleine
disappeared from her family's holiday apartment on May 3, 2007, a few days
before her fourth birthday, as her parents dined with friends at a nearby tapas
bar.
Her
disappearance sparked one of the biggest searches of its kind in recent years.
Despite a
wide range of suspects and theories about what happened, no one has ever been
convicted over her kidnapping and no trace of her has been found.
'Angry'
Hans
Christian Wolters, a spokesman for Brunswick prosecutor's office, said Thursday
that the German suspect was being investigated "on suspicion of
murder".
"We
assume the girl is dead," he said, describing the suspect as "a sex
offender with several previous convictions who has been sentenced for sexual
abuse of children, among other things".
According
to police, the suspect, a white man with short blond hair, lived in the Algarve
region of Portugal between 1995 and 2007.
He made a
living doing odd jobs in the area where Madeleine was taken, and also burgled
hotel rooms and holiday flats.
Police
believe he was living in a white Westfalia camper van with yellow skirting at
the time of the kidnapping and they are keen for witnesses who remember seeing
the vehicle back then to come forward.
READ ALSO:
German prisoner identified in disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann
Police are
not ruling out that Christian B. may have broken into the McCanns' flat for a
robbery before spontaneously taking the girl.
Speaking to
Sky News, a former neighbour in Portugal said Christian B. was "always a
bit angry, driving fast up and down the lane, and then one day, around 2006, he
just disappeared without a word".
According
to a report in Der Spiegel magazine, Christian B. was first convicted of
sexually abusing children when he was still a teenager.
His
criminal record contains a total of 17 entries, the report said, including
driving without a license, bodily injury, theft and drunk driving.
He went on
trial for the first time in Bavaria in 1994 for "abusing a child" and
"performing sexual acts in front of a child", Spiegel said.
Then 17
years old, Christian B. received a juvenile sentence of two years, which he
only partly served.
In 2016,
the district court of Braunschweig sentenced him to one year and three months
in prison for "creating and possessing child pornographic material",
according to Spiegel.
By Femke Colborne
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