The paedophile suspected of abducting Madeleine McCann has been quizzed about her disappearance for the first time.
Christian Brueckner, 44, was made an official suspect on Thursday, paving the way for his extradition from his home country.
Brueckner, who is currently in jail in Germany for rape, was asked: “Where were you the night Madeleine McCann disappeared?”
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German detectives also demanded to know if he has an alibi, asking: “If you weren’t by the apartment she disappeared from that night, where were you?”
Brueckner was handed a document informing him he was being made an “arguido”, meaning suspect, over the British youngster’s May 3, 2007 disappearance from her Algarve holiday apartment.
Sources close to the case said Brueckner answered none of the questions, exercising his right to silence.
His lawyer is thought to have been present during the key development in the long-running case.
It has seen German authorities focus on the convicted rapist as their prime suspect.
The questions were prepared by prosecutors in the Algarve resort of Portimao and included in a formal International Letter of Request sent to German authorities.
Portugal’s Policia Judiciaria force, which has officers leading an ongoing review of the case from the northern city of Porto, has yet to make an official comment. But a top PJ source said yesterday: “The PJ is committed to finding out what happened to Madeleine McCann and in addition to the work we’re doing, we will continue to co-operate with British and German authorities on that mission.”
Sources close to the case said they expected no new developments to take place until results were back from forensic work on samples taken from a Volkswagen van.
The truck is one which Breuckner drove while he lived on the Algarve and which featured in a police appeal about his vehicles.
One Portuguese insider described the results as “potentially crucial”.
But he added: “They could also be the final throw of the dice.
“At the moment it’s a bit of a wait-and-see situation.” Portuguese prosecutors confirmed their decision to make Brueckner an official suspect on Thursday night in their first formal statement on the decision.
It is thought Brueckner has been made a suspect as there is a strict 15-year time limit for a murder charge in Portugal, which will elapse next month.
He was informed he was now an “arguido” in Oldenburg Prison in Germany where he is serving seven years for raping an American pensioner in 2005 in Praia da Luz.
It gives Portuguese authorities the ability to charge him further down the line by effectively “stopping the clock” on the time limitation for bringing a prosecution if German prosecutors decide they haven’t got enough evidence to charge the paedophile they regard as their prime suspect. Portuguese sources have said the legal grounds for making Brueckner an arguido include the fact that he allegedly confessed to a friend he had snatched Madeleine, then aged three.
Mobile phone records also placed him in Praia da Luz the night she vanished from an apartment as her parents, ate tapas nearby.
The German drifter spent several years living on the Algarve and completed a nine-month prison sentence there for petrol theft five months before the British youngster disappeared.
Last year it was reported Brueckner would be charged in Germany with three separate sex crimes this year including the rape of Irish woman Hazel Behan in 2004 on the Algarve.
Brueckner claimed at the weekend he had yet to be questioned about Madeleine’s disappearance.
It comes almost two years after German police said they believed he had murdered her and they had “concrete evidence” the girl was dead.
He said in a letter ahead of this week’s arguido development: “I haven’t been questioned on any allegations as required by German law, but it is obvious the German authorities and especially the Department of Justice, are providing the media with information about me that is likely to make me appear contemptible.
“This also applies to the authorities at the correctional facility in which I am currently being held.”
Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry said last night that they “welcome the news” about Brueckner.
Their statement added: “This reflects progress in the investigation, being conducted by the Portuguese, German and British authorities. We are kept informed of developments by the Metropolitan Police.
“Even though the possibility may be slim, we have not given up hope that Madeleine is still alive and we will be reunited with her.”
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