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Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brückner: a timeline

1994

Convicted of sexual abuse of a child, attempted sexual abuse of a child, and carrying out sexual acts in front of a child.

1995

Flees to Portugal as an 18-year-old to escape a two-year youth custody sentence for the above offences.

1999

Returns to Germany to sit a youth custody sentence he had escaped.

2004-5

Dates an English woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

2005

Rapes a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz.

2006

Portuguese authorities drop the rape investigation due to lack of evidence.

2006

Arrested and convicted for stealing diesel fuel in Portugal.

2007

Madeleine McCann disappears from Praia da Luz.

2007

Buys marihuana and hashish and sells it to a middle-man on the northern German island of Sylt, where it is sold on.

2012

Opens a kiosk in Braunschweig, in north-west Germany.

2013

McCanns appeal to the German public on TV for evidence over Madeleine’s disappearance. Brückner’s name crops up in connection with the case.

2017

Convicted of sexual abuse of a child in Germany and sentenced to 15 months in prison.

2018

Arrested in Milan and returned to Germany.

2019

August – charged with the rape of a US citizen.

2019

December – convicted. Sentenced to seven years for the rape. Prison term not yet started pending an appeal that the conviction was unlawful but he is being held in police custody.