The prime suspect in the case of Madeleine McCann‘s disappearance was spotted wearing an ankle tag just hours after his release from prison in Germany on Wednesday.

Christian Brueckner, 48, had been serving a seven-year term at Sehnde prison for an unrelated offence before being released at 9:15am local time.

He has been ordered to wear an electronic ankle tag for the next five years, though this would not work were he to leave Germany.

After leaving Sehnde in the back of a black Audi with his lawyer this morning, Brueckner was pictured wearing a purple pinstriped shirt with the electronic tag around his ankle.

He was also seen holding a cheeseburger in one hand and a nugget in the other after making a pit stop at McDonald’s.

Brueckner stopped for a cigarette and stood to eat, lingering some fifteen minutes before leaving, German newspaper Bild reported.

In a statement to the Daily Mail, prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said: ‘Christian Brueckner must now find a place to live and notify the court as soon as possible. We don’t yet know where he will be living in the future.’

It is believed he will look for a flat on the exclusive North Sea island of Sylt, which is popular among German millionaires.

+7
View gallery

Christian Brueckner was spotted wearing his ankle tag this morning following his release from prison

+7
View gallery

He was then seen enjoying a McDonald’s burger

Brueckner is known to have connections on the island and in 2011 was given a suspended sentence there for dealing cannabis.

Wolters added that the ‘ankle monitor and other conditions begin’ on Wednesday and said Brueckner will be assigned a probation officer, with whom he must maintain contact at least once a month.

‘Furthermore, Christian B. must notify the court in advance of any change of residence or place of stay and obtain its approval.

‘If he violates these conditions, he faces a fine or imprisonment of up to three years.’

German prosecutors named Brueckner as their top suspect in an explosive announcement in 2020. He denies any involvement.

He has not been charged in the McCann case due to a lack of evidence, prosecutors say, adding his release has ‘no direct impact’ on it.

Brueckner served six years of a seven-year sentence near Hanover for raping a 72-year-old American woman in 2005 in the same area from which Madeleine vanished.

Der Spiegel said that, per the terms of his release, his passport had been cancelled, he will be electronically tagged, must declare a place of residence and cannot leave without permission.

‘This is an attempt by prosecutors to keep him in a kind of investigative detention where they have access to him at all times,’ Der Spiegel quoted lawyer Philipp Marquort as saying.

+7
View gallery

Maddie McCann Suspect Christian Bruckner is driven away from jail by his lawyer after serving 7 years for there rape of a 72 year old woman at her home in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2005

+7
View gallery

He left the facility in the back of a black Audi with his lawyer on Wednesday morning

+7
View gallery

Brueckner was covered as he left the Sehnde prison in the car

Brueckner’s legal team, however, insists that he has ‘served his time and can come and go as he pleases’.

Days before Brueckner’s release, Wolters warned that he remains ‘dangerous’ and was considered likely to reoffend.

Wolters said: ‘He is not only our number one suspect, he is our only suspect – there is no one else.

‘We have evidence which speaks for itself, and which points to him being responsible for the disappearance and death of Madeleine McCann.

‘We have evidence against him but it’s just not strong enough to bring a case and so that’s why we haven’t charged him yet – we hope we can at some stage.’

He added: ‘You have to expect him to commit further crimes.’

‘We haven’t found anything in the last five years that exonerates [him],’ Wolters told the BBC in a separate interview.

‘We found evidence that strengthens our case. But in our view it’s not strong enough to make a guilty verdict likely, and that’s why so far we couldn’t charge him or apply for an arrest warrant.’

+7
View gallery

This file undated handout photograph released by the Metropolitan Police in London on June 3, 2020, shows Madeleine McCann who disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007

+7
View gallery

Defendant Christian B (C) is seen between his lawyers Holm Putzke (L) and Friedrich Fuelscher (R) in court in July 2024

The family of Brueckner’s rape victim in the United States, Diana Menkes, also fears he is still a danger to the public.

Mrs Menkes died three years ago and her family in Pasadena, California, who agreed for her to be named also expressed shock and disappointment at his impending release.

Her nephew, Michael Foulger, told the Daily Mail: ‘It feels to us that he is still a danger to the public and should be closely monitored especially if he is connected to the Madeleine McCann case.’

Brueckner’s defence lawyer Friedrich Fuelscher told public broadcaster NDR that the comments by the public prosecutor’s office ‘will have an impact on his future life’.

He predicted Brueckner might struggle to find a job or a flat and to reintegrate into society because ‘people will not want to have any kind of contact with a suspected child murderer’.

Fülscher also told RTL the investigations into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann were ‘without substance’ and said he hasn’t ‘seen anything yet that makes me doubt my client’s innocence’.

Brueckner was first convicted of sexually abusing children when he was still a teenager, according to Der Spiegel.

By 2020, his criminal record contained 17 entries, the magazine reported, including causing bodily injury, theft and drunk driving.

During his latest trial, a psychiatric expert described him as being in the ‘absolute top league of dangerousness’ and highly likely to reoffend, according to German media reports.

At the time he was revealed as a suspect in the McCann case, Brueckner was serving a sentence for drug trafficking.

He was also charged in October 2022 with five separate counts of rape and child sex abuse allegedly committed between 2000 and 2017 in the same region of Portugal where Maddie went missing.

But he was acquitted on all charges, thwarting prosecutors’ hopes of keeping him in jail while they continued to investigate the Maddie case.

Prosecutors in Braunschweig, where Brueckner was tried on the 2022 charges, have applied for a retrial in a different court, but a decision on those proceedings is not expected before next year.

Wolters said German investigations into Maddie’s disappearance were ongoing.

Prosecutors ‘have not yet evaluated everything’ found during the new search in Praia da Luz in June, he said, adding that there are also still ‘other lines of inquiry’.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said that the force’s investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remains a missing person inquiry.

He told journalists that the force is ‘taking stock’ of the German and Portuguese investigations now that the prime suspect Brueckner has walked free from prison.

‘He remains a suspect for us. We are taking stock of where we are, and the German investigation and the Portuguese investigation,’ Sir Mark said.