Madeleine McCann investigators have released a statement after Christian Brueckner was confirmed as an "arguido" over her disappearance.
It emerged on Thursday the 44-year-old had been declared a suspect which the prosecutors are looking into in the first formal statement on the decision.
The unexpected move is believed to be linked to statute of limitations legislation in Portugal which could have prevented a successful prosecution against Brueckner in the country this year.
Serious criminals such as murderers and kidnappers cannot generally be prosecuted in Portugal after 15 years have passed.
Brueckner, also known as Christian B, is in prison in Germany after being convicted of raping a 72-year-old woman in 2005, in the same town where Maddie vanished.
Maddie was three years old when she was staying at the family's rented holiday apartment in Praia da Luz two years later on May 3, 2007.
The 15th anniversary of Maddie's disappearance in the Algarve had already been flagged up by Portuguese lawyers as a key date in the unsolved mystery.
On Thursday evening, Portuguese sources said Brueckner had been informed of his new ‘arguido’ status in Oldenburg Prison in northern Germany where he is serving seven years for raping the American pensioner in 2005.
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.
The Faro Department of Criminal Investigation and Prosecution (DIAP) issued a written statement on Thursday titled "Maddie case. Constitution of an Arguido."
It read: "As part of the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007, a person was made an arguido on Wednesday.
"The man was made an arguido by the German authorities in execution of a request for international judicial cooperation issued by the Public Ministry of Portugal.
"The inquiry is led by the Portimao section of the DIAP in Faro with the assistance of the Policia Judiciaria police.
"The investigation has been carried out with the cooperation of the English and German authorities."
The country’s PJ police force has yet to officially comment.
Portuguese sources said the legal grounds for making Brueckner an arguido include the fact that he allegedly confessed to a friend he had snatched Maddie and mobile phone records placed him in Praia da Luz the night she vanished as her parents ate tapas nearby.
The German drifter spent several years living on the Algarve and completed a nine-month prison sentence on the Algarve for petrol theft five months before the British youngster disappeared.
He stayed silent after being informed he was now a formal suspect in Portugal.
Fears the opportunity to get justice for Maddie and her parents could be dealt a hammer blow in a fortnight's time despite a continuing Portuguese probe into the unsolved crime had already been raised.
Madeleine McCann’s family’s lawyer Rogerio Alves warned in 2020 of Portugal’s 15-year limit on prosecutions.
He explained how this meant there was less than two years left to take action against Brueckner, who German authorities were treating as their chief suspect.
And Portuguese legal experts admitted at the start of the month the chances of putting anyone behind bars over Madeleine’s disappearance would be “greatly reduced” after the day Kate and Gerry McCann remember their eldest daughter exactly a decade and a half on from the holiday mystery.
Lawyer Spencer Dohner, of MDM Legal, said at the time before the latest development in the case: “I think the likeliest scenario with the information we have right now is that it all falls after 15 years.
“Portugal has a statute of limitations which means the authors of crimes punishable by a maximum prison sentence of more than 10 years cannot generally be prosecuted once 15 years has passed.
“This of course means the ability to prosecute in Portugal in the Madeleine McCann case after May 3 this year could be terminated.
“If she were found alive and had been the victim of sex crimes as a minor, legal proceedings could take place until she was 23.
“But if Madeleine is dead as the German authorities believe and was murdered in Portugal around the time she vanished, the cut-off point for prosecution would be the 15th anniversary of her disappearance under normal circumstances barring any technical issues that could potentially pause the time limit like the Covid pandemic.
“There are some arguments that could be debated but my perception and understanding of the law is that it’s 15 years and that’s it.
“If we had a situation where a body was found and we had reasons to believe it was murder and the authorities here had a person to accuse, we would have a limitation of those 15 years.”
Another Lisbon-based lawyer, who asked not to be named, added: “Police and prosecutors in Portugal will be acutely aware of the time limits hanging over the Maddie case.
“Our statute of limitations brings with it the probability that within a matter of weeks, the person responsible for her disappearance may never be brought to justice in the country where she vanished even with an arrest and confession.”
The decision to make Brueckner an arguido in Portugal came as a surprise because a fortnight ago sources close to the case there were saying they viewed it as “highly unlikely.”
Portugal’s Attorney General agreed to reopen the investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance in October 2013, more than five years after it was archived, following a formal request from the Policia Judiciaria.
PJ chief Helena Monteiro is still heading an ongoing Portuguese police ‘cold case’ review from the northern city of Porto.
In October 2013 she quizzed the widow of a former worker at the tourist complex where Maddie's parents were staying when she vanished.
Serial thief Euclides Lopes Monteiro, who died in a tractor accident in August 2009, has never been publicly ruled out as a suspect despite calls from his family for police to confirm his innocence.
Late last year it was reported Brueckner would be charged in Germany with three separate sex crimes this year including the rape of an Irish woman in 2004 on the Algarve.
It emerged in June 2020 police homed in on the prime suspect in Maddie's case after he told a pal in a pub: “I snatched her.”
He allegedly confessed to kidnapping the youngster while sitting in a German bar on the 10th anniversary of her abduction.
Reports at the time said he and a pal were watching a TV news report on the case in 2017 when he said he knew what had happened to her.
He is also said to have boasted that he had “snatched her”.
Portuguese authorities had insisted earlier this month they would continue to investigate Madeleine McCann’s disappearance despite reports Scotland Yard was planning to end its Operation Grange probe after eleven years.
A spokesman for Portugal’s Attorney General’s Office, asked about the future of the probe led by a prosecutor based in the Algarve resort of Portimao, said: “The investigation is proceeding, with the inquiry not having a final conclusion yet.”
Portuguese police sources also said closing their long-running "cold case" review was “completely out of the question.”
