Authorities say they no longer have legal justification to hold Christian Brückner in jail after serving rape sentence
The main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was freed on Wednesday as German authorities said they no longer had legal justification to hold him in jail.
Christian Brückner, 49, was released from prison in Sehnde, northern Germany, after serving a sentence for the rape of an American woman, then 72 years old, in Portugal in 2005, journalists at the scene reported.
The rape took place in Praia da Luz, the holiday resort on the southern Portuguese coast where the three-year-old British toddler disappeared 18 months later.
Brückner was driven away from the prison entrance by his lawyer, Friedrich Fülscher, in a black Audi A6 at 9.14am local time, accompanied by a police escort. Brückner, who police confirmed was covered in a blanket and sitting on the back seat, could not be seen owing to tinted windows. The car travelled northwards, taking him to an unknown destination.
