Madeleine McCann

[Darryl Kenyon]

Thanks for sharing, Roger. I listened to the podcast and what I also found interesting is that Brückner, according to this friend, was an excellent burglar; he was supposed to get into any house or appartment and when there would be a soccer game on television and people went to watch it together in bars and such, Brückner had the time of his life.

Hi Frank
This is the sort of thing I am getting at . Someone who works in, or outside the bar [ handing out flyers ], could tip a burglar off that Apt 2 is watching football at the sports bar in the evening [ after getting friendly with Apt 2 , eliciting info on where they are staying etc ] .

It does happen. A few years ago I went abroad to the same popular holiday resort on several occasions . I found out one time that in one of the more well known bars someone was tipping a group of lads off [ particularly on a Friday evening , when most people go home on a Saturday ], who was leaving said bar, late at night, on their own and especially if they were a bit under the influence. These Lads would then attempt to rob the unfortunate victim as they made their way back to the hotel.

As I mentioned in my last post. I believe there is a fair chance this happened with Madeline. Someone gets friendly with the Tapas group and passes on the info they extract to a burglar [ for drugs or money ]. But this burglar is also a sexual deviant who takes Madeline instead. Perhaps by managing to lift the shutters part way ,he looks into the bedroom without actually entering that way , with the windows locking from the inside . But deciding there and then he would snatch a child instead, [ after entering through the patio doors ]. It would explain why the apartment didn't seem to have been rummaged for money, jewellery etc.

Regards Darryl

[FrankO]

Hi Frank
This is the sort of thing I am getting at . Someone who works in, or outside the bar [ handing out flyers ], could tip a burglar off that Apt 2 is watching football at the sports bar in the evening [ after getting friendly with Apt 2 , eliciting info on where they are staying etc ] .

It does happen. A few years ago I went abroad to the same popular holiday resort on several occasions . I found out one time that in one of the more well known bars someone was tipping a group of lads off [ particularly on a Friday evening , when most people go home on a Saturday ], who was leaving said bar, late at night, on their own and especially if they were a bit under the influence. These Lads would then attempt to rob the unfortunate victim as they made their way back to the hotel.

Hi Darryl,

Thanks for sharing this extra information. It's interesting (and quite disturbing).

As I mentioned in my last post. I believe there is a fair chance this happened with Madeline. Someone gets friendly with the Tapas group and passes on the info they extract to a burglar [ for drugs or money ]. But this burglar is also a sexual deviant who takes Madeline instead. Perhaps by managing to lift the shutters part way ,he looks into the bedroom without actually entering that way , with the windows locking from the inside . But deciding there and then he would snatch a child instead, [ after entering through the patio doors ]. It would explain why the apartment didn't seem to have been rummaged for money, jewellery etc.

I hope the case will be coming to a close very soon and it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out that you're right about how it happened; Brückner seems a very promising suspect, as this documentary shows. Among other things it reveals that a USB stick was found under Brückner's burried dog containing loads of disturbing vidieos and photos.

Best regards,
Frank

[PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR 1]

Brückner seems a very promising suspect, as this documentary shows.

A case in which a German committed a host of sexual offences in another country.

According to the documentary, the police mishandled the case partly because they had no experience of such a case, even though, we are told by learned members here, it should have been obvious to Madeleine's parents that she was at risk of being abducted.

All the samples collected by the police had been contaminated.

There was no sex offenders' register in Portugal at that time.

Brueckner had committed some 20 offences locally, including both sexual and burglary offences, yet it made more sense to the detective in charge to suspect the child's parents than someone like Brueckner.

The German police are convinced that Brueckner killed Madeleine.

They don't suspect Kate and Gerry McCann.

[cobalt]

There is still no national sex offenders register in Germany so far as I am aware, so any sexual offences Breuckner committed there would not have followed him over even had one existed in Portugal. An itinerant like Breuckner would be very hard to track down under any system. A whole list of crimes are alleged by the German police against Breuckner in addition to the appalling ones he has been convicted of, but I am not clear if any of the sexual crimes predate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The alleged ones certainly do, but we know from experience that police are always keen to clear up unsolved crimes of a serious nature.

A good example of this was Peter Tobin, who murdered teenagers across the UK and is suspected of a fair few more. These included the earlier 'Bible John' murders in Glasgow in the late 1960s. On the surface he seemed a good suspect. Tobin was a Glaswegian and certainly at the time visited the very dance hall where all the victims had been picked up. He resembled a photo fit, was known to use an alias that was almost identical to that used by the assumed killer and even, like the assumed killer, mentioned a relative who had scored a hole in one at golf. Self-styled criminology expert David Wilson said he would stake his professional reputation on Tobin being Bible John. He was as confident about Tobin as the German police seem to be about Breuckner.

A few disagreed, pointing out that Tobin was a fair bit younger than the murderer as described by witnesses in the dance hall and he was also ruled out by one of the victim's sisters who had been in a taxi cab with the assumed killer. Eventually DNA ruled Tobin out. Presumably Tobin's warped sense of humour had led him to insert details known from the Bible John inquiry into his own false narrative, long before he even came to the attention of the police.

[rjpalmer]

but I am not clear if any of the sexual crimes predate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

They do. For starters, he was convicted of two sex crimes against children while still a teenager and was in borstal for those crimes when he first fled to Portugal. Your theory that the German police are using Brueckner to “clear the books” of a crime committed in an entirely different country is an unusual one, to say the least. As a general rule, countries don’t like to admit they are exporting their home grown sex offenders on a very public world stage.

[cobalt]

Breuckner is a danger to the public and the German police understandably want him locked up in perpetuity. The McCann case offers that opportunity, along with the recognition of solving a highly publicised disappearance. If the German police are 'convinced' Breuckner is guilty it is odd they have not yet charged him.

The PJ seem less convinced about the guilt of Breuckner, but that may be a reluctance on their part to admit the possibility that an outside police force might succeed where they failed.
Or it may be they established that no phantom abductor ever entered the apartment and that the evidence pointing to Breuckner- some of which comes from anonymous associates of his who presumably share his criminal/drug lifestyle- is weaker than evidence pointing to the missing girl's parents.

[PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR 1]

Self-styled criminology expert David Wilson said he would stake his professional reputation on Tobin being Bible John. He was as confident about Tobin as the German police seem to be about Breuckner.

We do not know exactly what evidence the German police have that has convinced them that Brueckner abducted Madeleine McCann, but it would seem to be something more concrete than what Wilson had on Tobin.

It seems, moreover, that they can place Brueckner in the vicinity of the McCanns' apartment at the time of her disappearance, whereas Tobin had alibis for two of the Bible John murders.

[Darryl Kenyon]

we are told by learned members here, it should have been obvious to Madeleine's parents that she was at risk of being abducted.

That just about says it all. If you think parents leaving a three year old girl plus younger twins on their own in an apartment [ an apartment the night before a three year old girl was crying out for her parents ], while they go out enjoying themselves in a bar which did not leave a clear view of an apartment while leaving the patio doors unlocked instead of locking the patio doors and walking the extra yards to the front entrance does not increase the chance of a burglary or worse. Well !!

[PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR 1]

That just about says it all. If you think parents leaving a three year old girl plus younger twins on their own in an apartment [ an apartment the night before a three year old girl was crying out for her parents ], while they go out enjoying themselves in a bar which did not leave a clear view of an apartment while leaving the patio doors unlocked instead of locking the patio doors and walking the extra yards to the front entrance does not increase the chance of a burglary or worse. Well !!

Of course I do [think it does ...].

My point is that according to the documentary, the police lacked experience in dealing with a case of this kind, which suggests that they, like the McCanns, were very much taken by surprise and did not think it was the kind of environment in which such a crime would be committed.

[cobalt]

A condescending attitude towards the PJ has been a feature of UK media from the outset of the case, deflecting attention away from the family. This attitude has been embraced by the family themselves on a number of occasions. To offer some context, a high ranking retired metropolitan police officer offered the theory that Madeleine McCann had been abducted by an African family who wanted a white child. Little wonder then, that embedded racism continues to be a problem within that organisation.

No police force is experienced in the area of child abduction by a stranger since it is an extremely rare crime. Even rarer is a case where the child has been abducted by a stranger from the family home. Nonetheless, the PJ did explore that angle in the McCann case and drew a blank.

Unfortunately, young children being victims of their own family's actions is much less rare and is a standard element of police work.

[Sunny Delight]

That just about says it all. If you think parents leaving a three year old girl plus younger twins on their own in an apartment [ an apartment the night before a three year old girl was crying out for her parents ], while they go out enjoying themselves in a bar which did not leave a clear view of an apartment while leaving the patio doors unlocked instead of locking the patio doors and walking the extra yards to the front entrance does not increase the chance of a burglary or worse. Well !!

I think we can all accept it was awful for all the parents to leave their children alone. The worst fear I would imagine then would have been a fire or someone waking and getting incredibly upset if their parents weren't nearby. However the thought of abduction I don't think would truly have registered as a real threat. In all of criminology has there ever been a case where a sleeping child has been snatched from their holiday apartment whilst asleep? I think the McCann case is unique. But for the grace of God it could have been any one of the party who were allocated that apartment. It just so happened the McCanns were the unlucky ones.

[John Wheat]

I think we can all accept it was awful for all the parents to leave their children alone. The worst fear I would imagine then would have been a fire or someone waking and getting incredibly upset if their parents weren't nearby. However the thought of abduction I don't think would truly have registered as a real threat. In all of criminology has there ever been a case where a sleeping child has been snatched from their holiday apartment whilst asleep? I think the McCann case is unique. But for the grace of God it could have been any one of the party who were allocated that apartment. It just so happened the McCanns were the unlucky ones.

The McCann's wouldn't have been "unlucky" had they not left their children alone though.

[rjpalmer]

Even rarer is a case where the child has been abducted by a stranger from the family home. Nonetheless, the PJ did explore that angle in the McCann case and drew a blank.

This is a somewhat generous appraisal though, isn't it? Yes, they 'drew a blank,' but only after first naming a complete stranger (Robert Murat) as a formal suspect, grilling him down at the nick, trying to get a confession out of him, and ransacking both his house and his cousin's restaurant, which sent the UK press on a feeding frenzy that ended in several successful libel suits. It ended up being a wild goose chase. Not a good look if the PJ later wants to convince the world that the intruder theory had been utterly untenable from the outset. Or am I being unfair?

[PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR 1]

This is a somewhat generous appraisal though, isn't it? Yes, they 'drew a blank,' but only after first naming a complete stranger (Robert Murat) as a formal suspect, grilling him down at the nick, trying to get a confession out of him, and ransacking both his house and his cousin's restaurant, which sent the UK press on a feeding frenzy that ended in several successful libel suits. It ended up being a wild goose chase. Not a good look if the PJ later wants to convince the world that the intruder theory had been utterly untenable from the outset. Or am I being unfair?

The case against the McCanns was always farfetched, like that against the Chamberlains, Luard and Wallace.

The McCanns pretend to find their daughter is missing from their apartment, the Chamberlains pretend their daughter has been abducted from their tent by a dingo, Luard pretends to find his wife dead at a summer house on someone else's land, and Wallace pretends to find his wife dead at home after trying to keep an appointment at a fake address.

No-one ever produced any evidence that the McCanns stored Madeleine's body anywhere or disposed of it.

The McCanns were accused of concocting an alibi and the Chamberlains did not even need one, as their friends pursued the dingo tracks themselves.

No-one ever produced any evidence that the Chamberlains stored Azaria's body anywhere or disposed of it.

Luard has been accused of concocting an alibi even though both the police and the coroner declared it to be cast-iron.

Wallace was accused of concocting an alibi, even though he had insufficient time in which to have committed the murder.

The false allegations made against all these people captured the imagination of a receptive public, with all of them being accused of being unemotional by people who had never been in such a situation themselves.

The hatred of the public for the Chamberlains and the McCanns was akin to that of a lynch mob.

The Leicester Mercury had to withdraw a website opinion page "bombarded" with "nasty, spiteful and defamatory" comments.

(Belfast Telegraph, Mon 17 Sep 2007)

More than three-quarters of Australians thought the Chamberlains were guilty in 1984 and thirty per cent are still convinced of their guilt, in spite of proof of their innocence coming to light.

A gigantic 77.5 percent of Portuguese were certain that the McCanns were responsible for Madeleine's disappearance.

Just one more reason not to have faith in the jury system.

In the end, it was the authorities who set Wallace and the Chamberlains free, contrary to the jury's wishes at Wallace's trial, and there is no longer any police force even considering the possibility that the McCanns were involved in Madeleine's disappearance.

[Sunny Delight]

The McCann's wouldn't have been "unlucky" had they not left their children alone though.

Yeah so that just went over your head then.