The main suspect Christian B. in court in February. Image: imago images
A trial against the main suspect in the case of the missing Madeleine McCann has been underway since February. In the hope of finding solid evidence, a former car belonging to the German is now to be searched.
03.04.2024, 10:4903.04.2024, 14:23
17 years ago, three-year-old Madeleine McCann, known as Maddie, disappeared from a holiday resort in Portugal. Since then, the case of the girl from Great Britain has repeatedly made headlines. Although there is now a main suspect, the crime is still not solved.
The investigating authorities are now hoping for a breakthrough. Christian B. is now considered the main suspect: The man from Germany is a convicted sex offender who is said to have been in the same place at the time of Maddie’s disappearance. Christian B. is said to have kidnapped the three-year-old, whose body has not yet been found, from her room in 2007.
The accusation against Christian B.
At least that is what the German Federal Criminal Police Office and the Braunschweig public prosecutor’s office assume, which surprisingly announced in June 2020 that they were investigating the Maddie case against a sex offender who had been convicted several times on suspicion of murder.
The most important thing about the process:
However: The court case that is currently underway against Christian B. has nothing to do with the British woman’s disappearance. The defendant must answer for five serious sexual offenses before the Braunschweig regional court. The Würzburg native is accused of three cases of serious rape and two cases of sexual abuse of children. The court initially scheduled the hearing for around 30 days until the end of June. Christian B. could face a prison sentence of 15 years. Subsequent preventive detention is also an option.
BKA investigates white van
Like the British one Tabloid newspaper “The Sun” reportsthere could soon be evidence against B. in the Maddie McCann case – thanks to “The Sun” itself. Accordingly, a former vehicle belonging to the suspect is said to have been located, which the investigators now want to examine.
According to the tabloid newspaper, the vehicle is a white Mercedes Sprinter, which was identified in February based on photos from “The Sun”. The car is said to have been parked on a plot belonging to the suspect in Germany after Maddie disappeared. Christian B. is said to have bought the property in 2010 and lived there for a time. He also used it as a hiding place for several cars that he drove. B. is said to have driven the white van in Portugal in 2007.
The BKA confirmed to “The Sun” the reference to the transporter, which they are now investigating. An employee of the workshop that rented the vehicle to the German at the time told the newspaper that the car had been cleaned and repaired, but “that probably won’t have destroyed all the DNA. There may still be hair and other traces of those held inside.”
Also evidence for another case?
The white Mercedes Sprinter is said to have been used by the suspect in another kidnapping case. In 2015, Inga Gehricke, then five years old, disappeared during a family picnic in a forest in Wilhelmshof, Saxony-Anhalt. The only clue at the time was the sighting of a white sprinter that was driving on a forest path at the time of the girl’s disappearance.
According to “The Sun”, Christian B. was checked by the police in 2016 and 2020. He had no alibi for the day in question, and the day before Inga’s disappearance he had an accident in nearby Helmstedt, an hour’s drive away. In addition, the German lived nearby at the time.
Christian B. has so far denied all allegations against him in the ongoing proceedings. The presumption of innocence applies in all cases. (lak)
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