Charlotte Foster
Legal

New Maddie McCann theory has "electrified" investigators

An important witness in the Madeleine McCann case has shared a valuable piece of information which has has "electrified" investigators, as the search for the missing child continues. 

The witness claims that Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in Maddie's disappearance, had a burglary tool kit that could unlock any security door, and boasted to friends about his lock picking skills. 

This new theory has raised fresh doubts over the official theory that ­Maddie’s kidnapper clambered in through a window of holiday apartment 5a in Praia da Luz when she was abducted. 

German police are said to be “electrified” by discovery, and are also probing the possibility that Christian B used car paint solvent to sedate Maddie.

In an exclusive interview from a secret location, Helge B – now in German police witness protection – told filmmaker Jutta Rabe for The Sun on Sunday, “He came through the door”.

Helge B, 52, who met his fellow German a year before Maddie vanished aged three, said he found the kit at Christian B’s Algarve home.

The petty criminal had decided to ransack it with another friend after learning Christian B was serving time for theft.

He said, “I knew from Christian that he uses tools to break into holiday resorts, hotels and holiday homes to steal from tourists."

“There were passports on the table. There was all sorts of stuff lying around – cameras, suitcases, everything that tourists have with them. I also found a lock pick set.”

Helge B, who kept the kit and told German police about it, added, “You can use it to pick any lock, including security locks.”

Despite police long believing Maddie's abductor had snuck in through the window, when asked how Christian B might've entered the hotel room, Helge simply said, “Through the door. Easily. He can open any door”.

Upon the discovery of the new evidence, a police source said, “The German detectives were electrified by the discovery of the tool kit with the lock picks in it. This evidence is now very important to them."

“It confirmed a suspicion that they’d had for a long time – that Christian B entered the apartment through the door.”

German prosecutors hope to use the lock picks evidence to nail Christian B, who is in jail for drugs crimes and appealing a seven-year sentence for raping a woman of 72.

Image credits: Getty Images

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legal, Madeleine McCann, theory, lock pick, witness