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15 years after the disappearance of little Maddie in Portugal, the public prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig has found new evidence against the imprisoned German sex offender Christian B. “We are certain that he is Madeleine McCann’s murderer,” said Braunschweig public prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters in an interview with the Portuguese broadcaster CMTV on Tuesday evening.
“The investigation is ongoing and we’ve found some new facts, some new evidence,” he added. There is no forensic evidence such as DNA traces, “but evidence,” Wolters emphasized in the interview, which was conducted in English. The prosecutor declined to give any further details.
“Christian B. has no alibi”
When asked if it was true that something belonging to Madeleine McCann was found in Christian B.’s van, Wolters said he could not comment on details of the investigation. When asked again whether he could deny this, the prosecutor replied: “I don’t want to deny that.”
According to the investigations in Germany, telephone recordings show that Christian B. was near the hotel complex in the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz at the time of the crime, from which Maddie disappeared on the evening of May 3rd. Wolters said in the interview who called B. that evening will be investigated further.
At the same time, he emphasized that Christian B. could not prove that he was not at the scene of the crime. “Christian B. has no alibi,” said the prosecutor.
Maddie disappeared in Portugal in 2007
British girl Madeleine “Maddie” McCann disappeared from her family’s home in a holiday resort on Portugal’s southern Algarve coast on May 3, 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday, while her parents were having dinner in a restaurant. Despite large-scale international searches, the case was never solved, and there is still no trace of Maddie.
In June 2020, there was a surprising turn of events: the public prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig announced that they were investigating the murder of the German Christian B. He has a criminal record for sex offenses and lived regularly in the Algarve from 1995 to 2007.
B., who has a criminal record for child abuse, is currently serving a seven-year sentence in the Oldenburg penitentiary for raping a 72-year-old US tourist in Praia da Luz. Two weeks ago, the Portuguese public prosecutor announced that they now officially accuse Christian B. of Maddie’s murder.
Wolters had explained that the step taken by the Portuguese public prosecutor’s office was primarily to prevent the crime from becoming statute-barred. The German investigations into Christians B. are also not primarily concerned with the Maddie case; other proceedings against him are currently given priority.
In the interview with the Portuguese television station, Wolters said: “The fact that Christian B. is listed as a suspect in Portugal shows that we are not on the wrong track.” According to Wolters, Madeleine’s parents are not listed as suspects. The Maddie case is also being investigated in Great Britain.
Source: Nachrichten
