Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner 'broke into holiday apartments naked as teen girls slept'
5 April 2024, 13:28 | Updated: 5 April 2024, 13:29
Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner broke into holiday apartments naked while tourists slept, his former friend has told a rape trial.
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Brueckner appeared in court on Friday, accused of three rapes and two sex assaults between 2000 and 2017.
Michael Tatschl, who used to be friends with him, claimed he would break into holiday apartments naked and was forced to flee when one teen girl woke up and saw him.
He broke in naked to avoid leaving evidence or catching his clothes on surfaces, Mr Tatschl said.
"He scaled the walls," he told the court. "Once he told me he broke in and three teenage girls were sleeping in the living room. He was naked.
"One of them woke up when a phone rang and screamed. The girl's father heard the scream and came, so Christian had to run and jump off a balcony.
"He burgled naked quite a few times because he did not want to leave a trace."
Mr Tatschl previously said he was Brueckner's "partner in crime" when they lived in Portugal.
Brueckner is the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case after she went missing from her bed when she was on holiday with her family in Portugal in 2007. She was only three at the time.
He is in court for unrelated sex crimes that took place in the same area as where she disappeared.
Another of his former friends, who is also a key witness in the trial, said that he worked in hotels around the resort where Madeleine went missing.
Manfred Seyferth, 68, claimed that Brueckner regularly robbed hotels where he worked as a waiter, with him said to have stolen money and possessions from guests' apartments.
He said one of his jobs had been near the Praia da Luz area, following claims that he worked in the Ocean Club where Madeleine's family had stayed.
Mr Seyferth has also said that he believes Brueckner is "easily capable of taking a small child".
"I never liked him and he is a psychopath," he told the Sun. "He is obsessed with small children and I didn’t like it.
"He always had a young girlfriend with him and I think he is easily capable of taking a small child.
"That’s why I think he may have something to do with Maddie. He broke in and saw her and because he likes young girls — he’s got lots of convictions - he took her."
