Helge Busching, a former associate of Christian Brueckner, has said he is ‘100% sure’ the German was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann the British toddler who disappeared in Portugal 18 years ago

 

The former associate claimed Brueckner had links to the Ocean Club(Image: METROPOLITAN POLICE/AFP via Gett)

 

A former associate of Christian Brueckner says he is ‘100% sure’ the German was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the British 3-year-old who went missing while on vacation in Portugal in 2007.

 

Helge Busching made this claim just days before Brueckner is set to be released from prison for rape.

 

In his first TV interview, he revealed how Brueckner seemed to inadvertently disclose details about his involvement in the 3-year-old’s disappearance from a Portuguese hotel in 2007, describing how she “wasn’t screaming” during a discussion about the case.

 

In an interview with British ITV News airing this week in the UK, he stated: “I want Christian go behind bars for this, for the case of Madeleine McCann. This was him, I am 100% sure.

 

“He can say I am innocent. I know what he was doing, I saw it with my proper eyes. I know he’s dangerous man.”

 

A former associate has claimed Brueckner was involved in Madeleine McCann’s kidnapping

 

Busching spoke to a reporter at an undisclosed location in Europe. He is a man with a criminal past who, while an associate of Christian Brueckner, claimed they were not friends, reports the Mirror UK

 

Both being German nationals operating in the Algarve, he described how they conducted some “business” together, ranging from stealing solar panels and diesel to drug dealing.

 

Mr. Busching told ITV News that he has left his past behind and has now become a key witness for the German authorities. “He’s a dangerous man. A really dangerous man,” he said.

 

Christian Brueckner is a convicted pedophile who German prosecutors identify as their prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

 

Madeleine disappeared from her family’s vacation apartment in the seaside resort of Praia da Luz on Portugal’s Algarve coast in May 2007, just days before her fourth birthday.

 

Her parents had been dining at a nearby restaurant while she and her younger siblings slept. Despite one of the largest missing-child investigations in Europe, she has never been found.

 

Brueckner, who has vehemently denied any involvement, is now just days away from being released from prison after serving time for a rape conviction.

 

Busching recounted a chilling conversation he had with Brueckner at a festival in Spain, a year after Madeleine’s disappearance.

 

“I told him I don’t understand how somebody can rob little children from a hotel,” Busching remembered.

 

In response, Brueckner allegedly said, “She was not screaming. I was thinking, yeah, how you know this… yeah he have to do something with this.

 

“He took Maddie out from this hotel. He is involved, sure.”

 

Busching claimed. He admitted to being too scared to ask further questions and mentioned that Brueckner abruptly left the festival that night.

 

Busching revealed that he left a voicemail for Scotland Yard later that same year, but his message got lost among the 60,000 others received at the time.

 

It wasn’t until 2017 when he called again, this time to a dedicated hotline. Within days, police were interviewing him extensively.

 

His testimony became part of the case against Brueckner, handed over to German prosecutors who would later identify him as their prime suspect.

 

(Image: METROPOLITAN POLICE/AFP via Gett)

 

Mr Busching’s testimony has been utilized previously during Brueckner’s rape trial in 2019, when he was found guilty of assaulting a 72 year old American woman in Praia de Luz in Portugal back in 2005.

 

He revealed discovering a collection of shocking videos just one year following that rape in 2006, hidden in Brueckner’s residence showing him brutally assaulting two females – one appearing to be a German child approximately 14-years-old.

 

Mr Busching explained he came across the videos after breaking into Brueckner’s Portuguese home to steal diesel fuel stored in a large container.

 

The property sat just one mile from the Ocean Club resort where the McCanns would stay the next year.

 

According to Mr Busching, Brueckner had one particular criminal focus he pursued: breaking into hotel rooms and vacation rentals.

 

He believes Brueckner may have attempted to rob the McCanns’ apartment when he encountered Madeleine.

 

“Christian knows the Ocean Club very well. He was working there in the Ocean Club as a pool boy.

 

And I think Christian, I think, was thinking, okay, go in one apartment and take some stuff from this apartment.

 

“(But) this time, he don’t take baggage, luggage, he takes her.”

 

With Brueckner’s impending release approaching, Busching expresses disappointment in the German legal system.

 

“A big criminal man. To let him go as a free man. I don’t understand this… Now I know there will come out a really dangerous man.”

 

He revealed he has lost all trust in German prosecutors and believes British police should regain control of the Madeleine McCann investigation.

 

“I don’t have anymore confidence in the German justice” he said. “The best way is the English police will take the case of Madeleine McCann and Christian Brueckner.”

 

Christian Brueckner has always strenuously denied having any involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Busching insists Brueckner is lying.

 

“I don’t believe him. No. Christian is a big, big liar. He knows what I saw. He knows it.”