Christian Brückner, the prime suspect in the high-profile disappearance of Madeleine McCann, has declined to be interviewed by the Metropolitan Police ahead of his imminent release from a German prison. The Met confirmed it sent an International Letter of Request to Brückner, a 49-year-old German national, which he subsequently refused. Brückner is currently serving a seven-year sentence in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2005, and is expected to be released as early as Monday or Wednesday.

Madeleine McCann, then aged three, vanished from a holiday apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, had left her and her siblings sleeping while they dined at a nearby restaurant, discovering her missing at approximately 22:00. Her disappearance has since become one of the most high-profile unsolved missing person cases globally.

Det Ch Insp Mark Cranwell, the senior investigating officer for the Met Police's Operation Grange, stated that Brückner remains a suspect in their investigation. He has been identified as the primary suspect in the German investigation since 2020 and the Portuguese investigation since 2022. Despite Brückner's refusal to cooperate, Cranwell affirmed that viable lines of inquiry will continue to be pursued. Brückner has consistently denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.

German prosecutors have pointed to evidence, including mobile phone data, suggesting Brückner was in the area when Madeleine vanished, and have consistently maintained their belief that he is responsible. However, they have not yet found sufficient evidence to bring charges against him in connection with the case. Brückner, who lived intermittently in the Algarve between 2000 and 2017, is known to have been a drifter, a petty criminal, and a convicted sex offender, with previous convictions for sexually abusing children in 1994 and 2016.

Investigations have included multiple searches in Portugal. In June 2023, and again in June this year, Portuguese, German, and British police conducted searches between the McCanns' accommodation and addresses linked to Brückner, as well as scrubland and abandoned buildings near Lagos. Investigators also searched areas around the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, in 2023, where Brückner was known to have spent time and had photographs and videos of himself.

Last October, Brückner was acquitted by a German court of unrelated sexual offenses alleged to have occurred in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. Due to differing legal systems, German authorities treat Brückner as a suspect in Madeleine McCann's murder, while British police continue to classify her disappearance as a missing persons case. The Met's Operation Grange has received significant funding, totaling over £13.2 million since 2011, with an additional £108,000 secured from the government in April.