Nearly 20 years after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, British investigators have reportedly hit another major obstacle in their attempts to bring prime suspect Christian Brueckner to trial.
According to reports in the UK and Germany, the convicted German paedophile cannot currently be extradited to Britain because of Brexit.
A spokesperson for the German government told The Telegraph that Germany’s constitution prevents the extradition of suspects to countries outside the EU, which now includes the UK following its official departure from the bloc in 2020.
Before Brexit, extraditions between Germany and Britain could be handled more easily under the European Arrest Warrant system.
The development has sparked fears that Brueckner – the only official suspect identified by German and British prosecutors in the Madeleine McCann case – may never face trial in the UK over the disappearance of the British toddler.
Madeleine vanished in 2007 while on holiday with her family in Praia da Luz in Portugal’s Algarve region, in one of the world’s most high-profile missing persons cases.
British police have continued to investigate the case for almost two decades, with German authorities formally naming Brueckner as a suspect in 2020.
The latest setback comes as investigators attempt to show progress before the 20th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance next year.
Brueckner, who has repeatedly denied any involvement, reportedly told the Daily Mirror he was unconcerned because he has ‘good lawyers’ and believes he will not be handed over to British authorities.
The German national previously served a seven-year prison sentence for the rape of an American woman in the Algarve in 2005.
After being released from prison last year, he is understood to have lived in various parts of Germany while remaining under police monitoring through an electronic tag.
German prosecutors are also reportedly pursuing new criminal allegations against him linked to an assault case that could see him jailed again for up to five years.
In September 2025, Brueckner publicly complained about what he described as a “witch hunt” against him and called for his life to be returned to normal.
Despite years of investigations and multiple searches in Portugal and Germany, no one has ever been charged over Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.
