Home News The woman who claims she 'saw missing Madeleine McCann speaking German four years ago': Teacher goes public with story that she saw missing toddler, who would now be a teenager, in supermarket

The woman who claims she 'saw missing Madeleine McCann speaking German four years ago': Teacher goes public with story that she saw missing toddler, who would now be a teenager, in supermarket

July 25, 2020
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  • Woman who claims to have seen Madeleine McCann at an Algarve supermarket 
  • The woman, known only as Maria, is a German-speaking teacher from Portugal
  • She spoke to investigative programme Sexta as 9, screened by broadcaster RTP
  • She said she was 'certain' she saw Christian Brueckner's VW camper van  The woman who claims to have spotted missing Madeleine McCann at an Algarve supermarket says she also remembers seeing suspect Christian Brueckner's distinctive VW camper van nearby.
    The Portuguese woman, a German-speaking teacher known only as Maria, went to police recently to tell them a girl she was 'sure' was Maddie because of the unique blemish in her right eye, had been beside her at Apolonia Supermarket in Gale near Albufeira.
    She went public with her sighting last night night on an investigative programme called Sexta as 9, screened by Portuguese state broadcaster RTP.
    As well as telling reporter and presenter Sandra Felgueiras she was 'certain' she had seen the missing Brit youngster talking to another girl in German before they vanished, she said she remembered seeing the VW camper van which featured in a police appeal about the German paedophile's vehicles.
    The Portuguese woman, a German-speaking teacher known only as Maria, went to police recently to tell them a girl she was 'sure' was Maddie (pictured) because of the unique blemish in her right eye, had been beside her at Apolonia Supermarket in Gale near Albufeira
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    The Portuguese woman, a German-speaking teacher known only as Maria, went to police recently to tell them a girl she was 'sure' was Maddie (pictured) because of the unique blemish in her right eye, had been beside her at Apolonia Supermarket in Gale near Albufeira
    She said: 'I perfectly remember seeing it somewhere, in a side street or in the area where they used to park which is now West Gale car park, long before it was handed over as part of a concession and there were a lot of camper vans there.
    'I recall that van being parked somewhere near the Apolonia supermarket.
    'It was the white and yellow two-toned van. I can't remember exactly when I saw it but I recall seeing it.'
    She also revealed she had phoned the McCanns' Portuguese lawyer Rogerio Alves after calling the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria police force which is involved in the hunt for Maddie.
    Maria, who spoke with a strong northern Portuguese accent and was described as a regular long-time holidaymaker in the Algarve area, said she was dissuaded from her family from going to police after 'spotting Madeleine three to four years ago.'
    As well as telling reporter and presenter Sandra Felgueiras she was 'certain' she had seen the missing Brit youngster, she said she remembered seeing the VW camper van (pictured) which featured in a police appeal about the German paedophile's vehicles
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    As well as telling reporter and presenter Sandra Felgueiras she was 'certain' she had seen the missing Brit youngster, she said she remembered seeing the VW camper van (pictured) which featured in a police appeal about the German paedophile's vehicles
    She went public with her sighting last night night on an investigative programme called Sexta as 9, screened by Portuguese state broadcaster RTP. Pictured, the Apolonia supermarket
    She went public with her sighting last night night on an investigative programme called Sexta as 9, screened by Portuguese state broadcaster RTP. Pictured, the Apolonia supermarket
    She contacted the authorities after the recent police appeal about Brueckner and reports he could be linked to a November 2007 burglary at a house near the supermarket where a family's £91,000 savings were taken.
    Sandra Felgueiras made the link to Brueckner on a previous programme, saying the German paedophile had been working with a female accomplice who tipped him off so he could break into properties in the Algarve in copycat raids to the one investigators believe resulted in Maddie's abduction.
    Maria told Sexta as 9 she was in the dark about whether the police were investigating her information because after her calls to Mr Alves and the PJ, she has had 'no more contact with anyone up until today.'
    Speaking with her voice distorted to mask her identity, she said: ' 'It was three to four years ago, I can't be sure exactly when, at Apolonia Supermarket in Gale.
    Child psychologist Ana Vasconcelos (pictured) told the programme children snatched from their parents at a young age can 'consciously switch off' the trauma and get used to living in captivity
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    Child psychologist Ana Vasconcelos (pictured) told the programme children snatched from their parents at a young age can 'consciously switch off' the trauma and get used to living in captivity
    The Portuguese woman claims she saw a teenage girl with Madeleine's distinctive blemish in her right eye outside a supermarket in Gale near Albufeira (file image of Praia Da Luz, Portugal on June 4)
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    The Portuguese woman claims she saw a teenage girl with Madeleine's distinctive blemish in her right eye outside a supermarket in Gale near Albufeira (file image of Praia Da Luz, Portugal on June 4)There was a girl to my right speaking with another in German.
    'When I looked at her eyes, I was sure about what I saw.
    'They were light-coloured eyes with the same blemish Maddie has. The blemish was in her right eye. I'm sure about what I saw.She added: 'The girl I saw was about 13 to 14. Unfortunately it was only a few seconds after they had left the supermarket that I realised who that face belonged to.
    'I made the link but sadly it was too late.
    'I spent a few moments looking to see if they were in one of the aisles and I spent some time waiting to see if they were alone or with someone by the tills but I didn't see them again.
    Last week Portugal's version of Crimewatch - the RTP investigative programme Sexta - linked Madeleine suspect Christian Brueckner (pictured) to a burglary in 2007 where a family's £91,000 savings were taken
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    Last week Portugal's version of Crimewatch - the RTP investigative programme Sexta - linked Madeleine suspect Christian Brueckner (pictured) to a burglary in 2007 where a family's £91,000 savings were taken
    'I don't know if they were with someone or if they were alone. They weren't carrying anything in their hands, I remember that well.'
    Praia da Gale is a 45-minute drive east of Praia da Luz where the British youngster was last seen on May 3 2007.
    The supermarket at the centre of the new sighting is understood to erase its CCTV footage every so often and no images from the time exist.
    Child psychologist Ana Vasconcelos told the programme children snatched from their parents at a young age can 'consciously switch off' the trauma and get used to living in captivity.

    What do we know about Maddie murder suspect Christian Brueckner and his criminal past?

    1976: Christian Brueckner is born in Würzburg under a different name, believed to be Fischer. He was adopted by the Brueckner family and took their surname.
    1992: Christian Brueckner is arrested on suspicion of burglary in his hometown of Wurzburg, Bavaria.
    1994: He is given a two-year youth jail sentence for 'abusing a child' and 'performing sex acts in front of a child'.
    1995: Brueckner arrives in Portugal as an 18-year-old backpacker and begins working in catering in the seaside resorts of Lagos and Praia da Luz. 
    But friends say he became involved with a criminal syndicate trafficking drugs into the Algarve.
    September 2005:  He dons a mask and breaks into an apartment where a 72-year-old American tourist.
    The victim was bound, gagged, blindfolded and whipped with a metal cane before being raped for 15 minutes. She said afterwards that he had clearly enjoyed 'torturing' her before the rape.
    April 2007: He moves out of a farmhouse and into a campervan now linked to the crime. The farmhouse is cleaned and a bag of wigs and 'exotic clothes' is found.
    May 3, 2007: Madeleine McCann is snatched at around 10pm from her bed as her parents eat tapas with friends yards away.
    Brueckner's mobile phone places him in the area that night. He returns to his native Germany shortly after that. 
    October 2011: He is sentenced to 21 months for 'dealing narcotics' in Niebüll, in northern Germany. 
    In 2013 police released a photofit of a man seen lurking near the McCann apartment and Scotland Yard said that suspect had not yet been ruled out of the probe
    In 2013 police released a photofit of a man seen lurking near the McCann apartment and Scotland Yard said that suspect last night had not yet been ruled out of the probe
    2014: He moves to Braunschweig where he starts running a town-centre kiosk. He then goes back to Portugal with a girlfriend.
    2016: He is back in Germany. He is given 15 months in prison for 'sexual abuse of a child in the act of creating and possessing child pornographic material'. 
    May 3, 2017: Brueckner is said to be in a bar with a friend when a ten-year anniversary appeal following Madeleine's disappearance is shown on German television.
    He is said to have told him in a bar that he 'knew all about' what happened to her. He then showed his friend a video of him raping a woman.
    MailOnline understands the friend went to police shortly afterwards.
    June 2017: He heads back to Portugal and extradited again to Germany. The reason was a sentencing of the Braunschweig district court to 15 months' imprisonment for the sexual abuse of a child. 
    August 2018: After his release from prison he lives on the streets. But he was jailed again for drug offences. 
    First Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters addresses the media during a press conference on the Madeleine McCann case at the public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig
    First Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters addresses the media during a press conference on the Madeleine McCann case at the public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig
    September 2018: Brueckner is arrested in Milan, Italy and extradited to Germany and put on trial for raping the American tourist in 2007 after a DNA match to hair found at the crime scene.
    July 2019: He is jailed for 21 months for drug dealing in the northern German resort of Sylt.
    August 2019: Brueckner  is charged with the rape of the American tourist in Praia da Luz in 2005.
    December 2019: He is convicted of rape of extortion of the tourist based on DNA evidence. He is given a seven year sentence, but this has not been imposed pending an appeal. 
    June 3, 2020: Scotland Yard and the German police reveal that that they have identified a suspect in the Maddie McCann case
    June 4, 2020: Prosecutors in Braunschweig, where he lives, say they believe Madeleine McCann has been murdered, says spokesman Hans Christian Wolters. He is named in the German press as the prime suspect.
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