Case against Maddie suspect 'very weak' and helps 'real' killer remain at-large, documentary claims

The case against the new prime suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance is "very weak", according to an explosive documentary where it is claimed multiple witnesses will provide alibis for Christian Brueckner on the fateful night the three-year-old girl vanished.

"What the documentary will reveal for the very first time is a very different narrative than what's been played out in the world's media," claimed Mark Williams-Thomas, a former UK police detective and the investigative force behind Madeleine McCann: Investigating The Prime Suspect, which airs later today.

"The evidence that we were able to establish, and the information that's come to us, is not sufficient to say that [Brueckner] is responsible for Madeleine's disappearance or murder," Williams-Thomas told 9news.com.au.

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"The prosecutor's case is one that perhaps falls apart when you start to look at our evidence.

"There is no evidence that I have seen at all, and that I believe the prosecutors have in Germany, that would put him either directly outside the apartment on the night of her disappearance or in connection with her disappearance."

Williams-Thomas told 9news.com.au that viewers will probably be "surprised" at "how weak perhaps" the German case against Brueckner actually is.

And the German prosecutor's heavy focus on Brueckner was even allowing "the real person" responsible for Maddie's death and disappearance to remain at-large, he said.

In the documentary, Williams-Thomas said, several people give Brueckner an alibi for the night of May 3, 2007, and his team had "been able to check that alibi out".

"People who have talked to us and told us about [Brueckner], they have nothing to benefit from it," he said.

"In fact, many of the people we talked to don't like him, but they've been honest with us."

German prosecutors claim Brueckner's mobile phone pinged a cell phone tower in Praia da Luz which allowed them to place him outside the McCann's holiday apartment around the time Maddie went missing.

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Currently in a German prison serving time for rape, and with a history of sex crimes against children, Williams-Thomas said Brueckner was an "unpleasant character" but "that doesn't mean that he is responsible for Madeline's disappearance."

The key point, Williams-Thomas said, "is can [Brueckner] be put in Praia da Luz on the 3rd of May, 2007, and particularly outside the apartment of Madeleine's disappearance?

"Our program will set out a different element of events, which challenge the position that the German prosecutor is coming from."

The former detective, who was instrumental in exposing BBC star Jimmy Savile as a paedophile in a 2012 documentary, said his Maddie investigation had run a rigorous, analytical rule over the German case against Brueckner.

"For the very first time, you get a real insight into exactly what the German prosecutors have," he said.

He admitted the documentary did not have access to all the evidence German prosecutors had but said "we know the large majority of it".

"Where they talk in certainty, perhaps that certainty doesn't really exist."

Since June 2020, German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters has repeatedly claimed his office has concrete evidence Brueckner abducted and killed Maddie.

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However, despite Mr Wolters very public declarations, they have still not charged Brueckner with any crime.

Brueckner has denied any involvement in the mysterious Maddie case.

Last month Brueckner was declared an arguido, a formal suspect, almost two years after Mr Wolters first sensationally named him a prime suspect.

Williams-Thomas is troubled by how the Germans have gone after Brueckner so publicly.

The Germans had "overstepped the mark" by stating Brueckner's guilt and acting as "judge, jury and convicter", he said.

"I think as a result of that, the killer of Madeleine and the abductor of Madeleine is still at-large (because) everything has now been entirely focused on Christian B.

"And of course, if Christian B isn't responsible for Madeline's disappearance and murder, that means the real person is at-large."

READ MORE: What happens next to Maddie suspect Christian Brueckner?

When asked why the Germans had moved so publicly for Brueckner, Williams-Thomas said it was possible investigators had become "tunnel visioned (sic) and totally fixated" on solving one of the biggest cold cases in the world.

"In order for any investigation to be effective, you have to consider every element, the positives and the negatives," he said.

"And the reality is there is an awful lot of indications (and) evidence that's telling you it is not Christian Brueckner."

Today marks the 15th anniversary since Madeleine vanished in a baffling mystery where no one has been charged and Maddie's body never found.

Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, who were once arguidos themselves, hold out hope Maddie might still be alive.

But Williams-Thomas does not agree.

He believes Madeleine is dead, with the toddler likely abducted by an opportunist after wandering out of the rented two-bedroom apartment in the resort the McCanns were staying.

The McCanns have always claimed Madeleine was abducted.

Madeleine would be 19 later this month, if she is alive.

LISTEN: True crime podcast investigates what happened to Madeleine McCann