Friend of Madeleine McCann suspect has dwelling raided by armed cops

Armed police in Germany have been seen at a German allotment trying to find a person who might maintain important info on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, who is alleged to have connections to paedophile and prime suspect Christian Brueckner.

Firearm-wielding officers rallied at a small home on the Kennelblick allotment in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony final week, spending an hour exterior the property owned by a person named as Ralph H.

The 56-year-old is alleged to have labored carefully with Brueckner, who’s being handled as a chief suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance in Portugal in May 2007; the pair rented allotment properties back-to-back within the Kennelblick web site.

He is alleged to have admitted to robbing properties with the paedophile – at present on trial over 5 intercourse crimes in Portugal – and police are mentioned to need to converse to him to allow them to ask him questions on Maddie, who would now be 20 years outdated.

Informants throughout the BKA – the Bundeskriminalamt, Germany’s reply to the FBI – say they ‘urgently’ want to talk to him about his relationship with Brueckner.

It is known Ralph H just isn’t a suspect in her disappearance, however could have info which might assist investigators. 

Madeleine McCann on the day she went lacking – May 3 2007. She has not been seen since and German prosecutors are satisfied she was kidnapped and killed

Christian Brueckner showing in court docket final month in Braunschweig, Germany – the place he’s standing trial on three prices of rape and two of sexual abuse in Portugal

The Kennelblick allotments in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany, the place Ralph H is alleged to dwell and was one neighbours with Christian Brueckner

Christian Brueckner was named chief suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance in 2020

Brueckner has denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance, whereas his lawyer has warned that ‘worldwide media hearth’ risked muddying the waters of different felony trials

One supply informed The Sun: ‘We should discover him to ask him about lacking Madeleine McCann. He’s not at dwelling, he does not reply the cellphone, he is apparently disappeared.’

Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters mentioned: ‘He’s a neighbour who might be attention-grabbing to speak to, however we will not give out any particulars on operative issues.’ 

Contacted for remark by MailOnline, Mr Wolters added: ‘We don’t touch upon potential witnesses or different particulars relating to the investigation into the Maddie case.’ 

The Sun reported as much as 10 armed law enforcement officials in riot gear have been seen lingering exterior Ralph H’s dwelling in the neighborhood backyard.

Neighbours described the ‘fairly scary’ scenes of officers in helmets and bulletproof vests leaping over the fence of the house earlier than calling out his identify.

One mentioned she was requested by the police if she knew the place he could be – including that he had not been seen for per week. 

Another mentioned Ralph and Brueckner allegedly grew and offered marijuana collectively and have been concerned in ‘varied schemes’.

Ralph himself is reported to have mentioned of Brueckner: ‘I do know precisely the kind of crimes he obtained as much as and what he did on the darkish net.’ 

However, police have been unable to breach the entrance door as they didn’t have a search warrant.

Fortress-like safety measures are mentioned to protect the home – with a mixture of movement detectors and CCTV cameras used to maintain it safe.

Brueckner, in the meantime, is at present behind bars after being convicted of raping a 72-year-old American girl within the Algarve in 2005 just some miles from the place Madeleine would disappear two years later.

He is at present on trial in Braunschweig for three rapes and two sexual assaults alleged to have been carried in Portugal between 2000 to 2017. The case is because of resume tomorrow.

German police are satisfied he kidnapped and killed Madeleine, and investigations have continued years after he disappearance – with the latest high-profile searches happening on the Arade Lake 30 miles from Praia da Luz.

Brueckner himself has repeatedly denied any involvement in her disappearance and his lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher, has hit out on the accusations – warning that they threat muddying the waters of Brueckner’s unconnected ongoing trial.

He mentioned final month in court docket that the paedophile had been beneath ‘worldwide media hearth’ since being named by German police as a key suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance in 2020 – with no prices but introduced towards him.

Mr Fulscher added: ‘The best problem for the court docket in these proceedings will probably be to free itself from these ulterior motives when investigating the procedural fact and assessing the proof with regard to the accusations levelled.’

MailOnline has contacted the BKA for additional remark.

• This article initially incorrectly described Ralph H as a suspect – actually, he’s being handled as a possible witness, not a suspect. The article has been amended to make this clear.