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German court drops Maddie McCann suspect case

April 20, 2023

The German court in Brunswick said it could not try Christian B. as the region where it's located doesn't correspond to his last German address. The suspect was never formally charged in the McCann case.

https://p.dw.com/p/4QMkc
A photo of Maddie McCann, who was kidnapped in a Portuguese beach resort at the age of three.
A German court has dropped the case against the top suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Maddie McCann 16 years agoImage: picture-alliance/dpa/Brainpix/Itspress/Pacoeden

A German court on Thursday dropped the case of a sex offender who is a suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, citing lack of jurisdiction.

The regional tribunal of Brunswick said it was "not competent" to hear the case against Christian B., as his last known address in Germany was in another state. The court's decision also makes the Brunswick justice system "not competent" in the McCann case, it added.

Last October, Brunswick prosecutors charged Christian B. with three counts of rape and two sexual offenses against children between December 28, 2000, and June 11, 2017, in Portugal. He was nevertheless never formally charged in the McCann case.

What did the court say?

The Brunswick court said its jurisdiction for the case stemmed from the fact that the suspect's last address in Germany fell under the court's regional jurisdiction. It added that Christian B. produced evidence of a later address in the neighboring Saxony-Anhalt state.

The decision can be appealed by a higher court in Brunswick.

As per the German legal system, a court must decide whether to take a case to trial after receiving an indictment from prosecutors.

The court added that it had also lifted an arrest warrant for the suspect issued last November based on Thursday's decision.

It said, however, that its latest decision does not impact the sentence the suspect is serving. Christian B. is currently serving a seven-year sentence for raping a 72-year-old US tourist in Portugal's Praia da Luz in 2005.

The McCann case

Three-year-old Madeline McCann went missing from her family's holiday apartment in 2007 in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz. Despite huge search efforts and extensive Europe-wide media coverage, no trace of her was ever found.

Kate and Gerry McCann show a picture of their missing daughter Madeleine (Maddie) during a press conference in Berlin on June 6, 2007
No trace of Maddie was ever found since her 2007 disappearanceImage: Soeren Stache/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa/picture-alliance

Christian B. spent several years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz. He has denied any connection with the then-toddler's disappearance.

In 2020, German prosecutors announced they were investigating Christian B. for Maddie's disappearance, saying they had "concrete evidence" he killed her.

They have not made that evidence public, saying they did not want to reveal their information before a trial.

rmt/sms (AP, Reuters)

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