An outstanding fine against the main suspect in the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann in Portugal has been paid off, German prosecutors said Monday, meaning he could be released from prison in a separate case in mid-September instead of January 2026. Prosecutors in Braunschweig confirmed that an unpaid fine of about $1,663 against German national Christian Brueckner has been paid, moving up his potential release to Sept. 17, per the AP.
Brueckner has not been charged in the McCann case, in which he is under investigation on suspicion of murder. He spent many years in Portugal, including in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine's disappearance, but has denied any involvement in her disappearance. Investigators in the UK, Portugal, and Germany, are still piecing together what happened on the night 3-year-old Madeleine disappeared. She was in the same room as her brother and sister—2-year-old twins—while their parents, Kate and Gerry, had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.
The outstanding fine was in connection with earlier cases against the suspect related to forgery and bodily harm, the weekly Der Spiegel reported. He faced spending an extra 111 days in prison because he couldn't pay the money himself. Der Spiegel reported that a former employee of Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office paid the fine, but she had told the magazine she had tried to rescind the payment when she found out what it was really for. (Brueckner has indicated he plans to "disappear" and go into hiding in a country that has no extradition treaty with Germany following his release.)
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