Madeleine McCann cops left voicemail blowing investigation large open

A Met Police detective has revealed how the search for Madeleine McCann changed course thanks to a voicemail left on a Scotland Yard answering machine.

Detective Constable Mark Draycott appeared in Braunschweig Court today (Thursday, May 2) to answer questions about the girl’s disappearance during a 2007 family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal. The 49-year-old has been involved in the £13million hunt, Operation Grange, since it launched in 2011.

Convicted paedophile Christian Brueckner, 48, is currently on trial in connection with the disappearance after he was identified as the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance in 2020. Draycott was the first police officer called by the defence team to give evidence.

He said Brueckner’s former friend Helge Busching, who knew him in the Algarve in the mid-2000s, tipped off Scotland Yard in 2017. “Back then we still had a public phone number which was publicised around the world,” he said.

“Members of the public could ring in information in relation to Operation Grange, the Madeleine McCann investigation. One of my jobs was to check the answer phone messages. On May 18th I checked the answer phone and there was a message.”

According to DC Draycott, Busching said Brueckner told him during a discussion about Madeleine’s disappearance that “she did not scream.” The officer added Busching, who was not identified to him at that point, “spoke good English” and asked to speak to private investigator David Edgar.

“He said he had information and he left a Greek mobile number. I then rang this Greek mobile number and spoke to a male I now know to be Helge Lars Busching. He referred to himself as Lars and he gave information in relation to the Madeleine McCann investigation.”

DC Draycott passed on the information to German and Portuguese authorities. It was this conversation that prompted the investigation into Brueckner.

Days later DC Draycott and other members of a Scotland Yard team flew to Athens to question Busching in top secrecy. The interview was carried out in a hotel which had been checked for listening devices.

Busching was on parole from a Greek jail when he spoke to detectives. “We spoke to him over two days and he gave us information in relation to the Madeleine McCann case,” DC Draycott continued. “At that stage he did not want to give a statement to us.

“However as the line of inquiry continued he was happy to give a statement to British police. He said he had a conversation with Christian at the Orgiva Festival in 2008. That conversation was in relation to Operation Grange. I can’t talk about that.”

DC Draycott added no promises were made to witnesses by police and Busching was not paid for the information he shared. However his coach fare to Athens was paid for – as was a “cheap” hotel.

Busching flew to London in February 2018 to give a formal statement at Scotland Yard, according to DC Draycott. “That statement had already been prepared to a certain degree due to the info he had provided,” he added.

Madeleine was just three years old when she went missing.

Brueckner is currently serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of a pensioner in 2019. He is on trial accused of a number of sex attacks in Portugal which allegedly took place between 2000 and 2017.

Brueckner denies any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.

Scotland Yard took over the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance in 2011. The Met Police have since been given £13 million in funding from the government to spend on Operation Grange.

Last month Scotland Yard applied for another grant totalling £100,000. It is expected to be approved.

The trial continues.

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