Madeleine McCann suspect released from prison after serving rape sentence

Christian B is accused but not charged over the toddler's abduction

The top suspect in the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann in Portugal was has been freed from jail.

Christian Brueckner, 48, had been serving a term at Sehnde prison in northern Germany for a rape conviction, but he has not been charged in the McCann case because of a lack of evidence, prosecutors say.

The 49-year-old was driven out of Sehnde Prison in Germany on Wednesday by his lawyer. He had been convicted of raping a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2005. 

The three-year-old British girl disappeared from the same Portuguese holiday resort 18 months later. Brueckner has denied any involvement in the Maddie case.

Prior to his release German law enforcement authorities voiced alarm that the "dangerous" chief suspect could flee the country.

The chief prosecutor in the case, Christian Wolters, told AFP that he believes the man who German authorities refer to as Christian B. remains "fundamentally dangerous".

More to follow

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