Childhood friend of Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner fears he will come back to take revenge on her after she reveals he was part of ‘rebellious gang’

•  Madeleine McCann went missing during a family holiday in the Algarve in 2007
•  The prime suspect in the ongoing case is 46-year-old Christian Brueckner

A woman has revealed that the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case Christian Brueckner was part of a ‘rebellious gang’ when he was a teenager. 

The woman told a BBC Panorama documentary looking into the disappearance of the three-year-old, who went missing in the Algarve in May 2007, that she knew Brueckner as a teenager when he was running in a gang in Würzburg in Germany. 

She said: ‘They were very rebellious and destroyed a lot of stuff. They were always out and about, escaping through windows and gone.’

She also revealed that she was afraid of what Brueckner might do if he found out she had spoken to the press, despite the fact he is currently serving a seven-year sentence for the brutal rape of an American pensioner in Portugal in 2005. 

The woman said: ‘I was thinking about how the older lady got raped and read about it. I thought about when he wanted to take his revenge, who knows what will go on in his head. It may well be he goes looking for me.’

A woman has revealed that the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case Christian Brueckner (pictured) was part of a ‘rebellious gang’ when he was a teenager

Madeleine McCann went missing during a family holiday in the Algarve in May 2007, sparking a nationwide hunt

Madeleine McCann disappeared during a family holiday in the Algarve in May 2007, sparking a nationwide hunt. The prime suspect in the ongoing case is 46-year-old German national Christian Brueckner.

READ MORE: Portuguese police apologise to Madeleine McCann’s parents over their treatment as detectives say paedophile Christian Brueckner is their prime suspect and missing toddler died in Portugal

The convicted paedophile, currently serving a seven-year sentence, is accused by detectives of killing Madeleine in Portugal but is yet to be formally charged.

Throughout the documentary, other people who had encounters with Brueckner over the years since Maddie’s dissappearance also gave testimonies about his violent and aggressive nature. 

One woman, who manages a bar that Brueckner frequented sometime after May 2007, said he soemtimes had ‘fits of rage’ with other people in the bar. 

Brigitte Szegedi, bar manager at the Madame-Eck bar in Braunschweig, said she saw Brueckner ‘almost every day’ and he would often get into fights with men. 

She said: ‘I saw it only after he had drank a bit too much, but only with men, not with women.’

Another man, who worked at a shop that Brueckner previously owned, said he confronted him with a knife after demanding he return his freezer to him. 

The man, who was not named, told the BBC: ‘He came with a gang demanding his freezer back. He was brandishing a knife in the corridor. 

‘He had this long knife and wanted to stab me. He was drunk or on drugs. His eyes glistened like mad and he was filled with rage.’

The woman said she knew Brueckner was running in a gang in Würzburg in Germany when he was a teenager

The man added that Brueckner’s girlfriend, who was a teenager at the time while he was in his late 30s, said the German national had strangled her. 

He said: ‘I met her at the bus stop and asked her where she had got those strangulation marks from and she told me he strangled her and beat her. 

READ MORE: Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner ‘could face trial over separate sex offences as soon as February with Maddie trial following closely after’, report claims

‘She was scared stiff of him she told me a lot of things. She was really scared of him.’

When asked if he thought Breuckner was capable of the crimes he is accused of, the man replied: ‘Yeah because he is so aggressive and after I saw how he strangled his grilfriend and that, yes he is capable.

‘In the beginning he is sweet but once you get to know him he is a psychopath. He has several faces. This man is highly highly dangerous.’

A third man, Oliver Sternard, who employed Brueckner as an odd-job man in the Algarve in Portugal, said Brueckner broke his nose after he found out that he had been hiding alcoholm in his warehouse.  

Mr Sternard said: ‘When I went in to my workshop I found out that he was hiding alcohol.’ He later confronted Brueckner and he became violent. ‘He said don’t call me a liar in German. He was very aggressive. There was a fight, he hit me.’

He added that Brueckner broke his nose and was taken away by police but was later released.

Brueckner is currently serving a seven-year prison term in a high-security prison locally dubbed ‘Alcatraz of the North’ in Oldenburg, near the historic northern city of Bremen. 

Mr Sternard added: ‘He should stay in prison as long as possible. He is dangerous so he should keep away from society.’

Personnel at Barragem do Arade reservoir, in the Algarve, Portugal, as searches continue as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

Earlier this month it was reported that the suspect could face trial as early as February next year for a string of heinous crimes, which include three shocking rapes and two sex attacks on children.

He is said to have filmed two of the rapes he is being tried for which are said to have taken place at his former residence outside Praia da Luz – the same area where Madeleine disappeared.

The trial is expected to span over a month and is likely to take place at Braunschweig High Court.

German prosecutors have not yet formally charged Brueckner with the abduction and killing of Maddie but authorities in Germany have indicated the McCann trial could take place closely on the heels of his upcoming trial, The Olive Press reported.

He is currently serving his sentence for the brutal rape of an American pensioner in Portugal in 2005, but he now faces charges for the rape of a young Irish woman, Hazel Behan, in the Algarve in June 2004.

Behan endured a harrowing ordeal when a blond-haired German intruder with blue eyes broke into her apartment.

The vicious assailant raped her at knifepoint and filmed the vicious four-hour attack.

Two witnesses reported seeing a man resembling Brueckner enter and exit the apartment in Portimao at dawn, with one hotel worker claiming he saw the German expat without his mask.

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