Detectives probe ‘promising’ new mobile phone lead in Madeleine McCann case

Detectives probe ‘promising’ new mobile phone lead in Madeleine McCann case after tip-off revealing who owned the number prime suspect Christian Brueckner called the day she vanished

  • A TV appeal viewer recognised the number Bruckner is said to have phoned
  • Brueckner recently identified as a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine 
  • Prosecutors claim they have ‘ concrete evidence’ the three-year-old was killed

Brueckner, 43, was recently identified as a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine, who vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007

Detectives are probing a ‘promising’ new mobile phone lead in the Madeleine McCann case after a tip-off from a TV appeal.

A viewer on Germany‘s Crimewatch recognised the phone number that suspect Christian Bruckner is said to have phoned on the night the young girl vanished, as reported by The Sun. 

Brueckner, 43, was recently identified as a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine, who vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007. 

German prosecutors have repeatedly claimed they have ‘concrete evidence’ that the three-year-old was killed, and insisted last month they had shared this information with Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann in a letter.    

Details of a call involving a mobile number allegedly used by Brueckner were revealed on the German crime show Aktenzeichen XY… Ungelöst.

At the end of the show detective Alfred Hettmer said: ‘There have been 16 calls about this number and one of them is promising.’ 

Brueckner, 43, was recently identified as a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine, (pictured) who vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007.

Brueckner, 43, was recently identified as a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine, (pictured) who vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007.

Police previously said a phone linked to Brueckner had received a 30-minute call between 7.32pm and 8.02pm on the night Madeleine disappeared from the Ocean Club apartment complex.

Scotland Yard took the unusual step of releasing two mobile telephone numbers as part of an appeal to end the 13-year mystery on June 4. 

The first number +315 912 730 680 is believed have been used by the prime suspect. He received a call from another Portuguese number + 351 916 510 683 while in the Praia de Luz area. 

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters recently told 60 Minutes a phone linked to the prime suspect had been used near the holiday apartment on the night the three-year-old vanished.  

Police previously said a phone linked to Brueckner had received a 30-minute call between 7.32pm and 8.02pm on the night Madeleine disappeared from the Ocean Club apartment complex (pictured)

Police previously said a phone linked to Brueckner had received a 30-minute call between 7.32pm and 8.02pm on the night Madeleine disappeared from the Ocean Club apartment complex (pictured)

The parents of Madeleine McCann, Kate and Gerry McCann. Their daughter disappeared in 2007

The parents of Madeleine McCann, Kate and Gerry McCann. Their daughter disappeared in 2007

It comes as the lawyer for Madeleine McCann’s kidnap and murder suspect Christian Brueckner has insisted his client is ‘no psychopathic monster’.

Friedrich Fulscher described the 43-year-old serial paedophile as a ‘friendly conversationist’.

He went on to claim: ‘The prosecutor’s office seems to have shot at our client and is now trying to correct their lack of evidence by any means possible.

‘I experience him as a very calm and friendly interlocutor, and the atmosphere between us has always been very pleasant.’

He said Brueckner has not spoken about the case ‘and he has a right to silence’, which does not infer guilt.