Maddie McCann prosecutors say 'clock is ticking' to charge Christian Brueckner

Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said there's only one year left to charge Christian Brueckner over Madeleine McCann's disappearance in 2007 - or he will be released from prison

Madeleine McCann prosecutors have admitted “the clock is ticking” as they scramble to charge Christian Brueckner over her disappearance.

The German paedophile was sensationally cleared this morning of carrying out a string of unrelated sex crimes in Portugal. Furious prosecutors have said they will take the case to the Supreme Court to appeal the verdicts and ask for a retrial.

But if they fail Brueckner will walk free from prison next September at the end of his seven-year sentence for rape. The only other way he can be kept behind bars is if the 47-year-old is charged over Madeleine’s 2007 disappearance.

Police are powerless to stop him leaving Germany, including to countries who do not have an extradition treaty. Madeleine prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters admitted for the first time that they are in a race against time to charge him.

“Christian Brueckner is our prime suspect and still our only suspect,” he told the Mirror outside court in Braunschweig. “Nothing has changed in the last four years. We have evidence that he killed Maddie McCann.

“We have no forensic evidence, but we have evidence. If it’s enough, I can’t say at the moment. The clock is ticking. We only have one year. I’m not worried but we have to realise that we maybe have to come to a decision next summer.

“If the Supreme Court rules in our favour before his release, then we will try to get an arrest warrant for his retrial on these cases. But if they say there will be no retrial then we only have the Maddie case.

“If we don’t have enough evidence, then he will walk free from prison. We can charge him later, obviously, but If he leaves Germany then it’s not easy for us to bring him back for trial. For a trial in Germany you must be here, you must be part of the trial.

“We can’t stop him going wherever he wants to go after he is released. It would be a problem to bring him back to Germany. The only way is to get an arrest warrant before his release. And there are only two possibilities left - a retrial or the Maddie case.

“The clock is ticking. We only have one year. Now is not the time for us to put it on the table and decide if we should charge him. Maybe we will come to this point in the next year. Maybe we have to put it on the table then.

“There will be no new trial before Christian Brueckner’s time in prison comes to an end in September next year. We can’t wait for other trials. We have to look forward to the decision of the Supreme Court.”