Berlin - A former acquaintance of the German man considered the prime suspect in the disappearance and suspected murder of British toddler Madeleine McCann has spoken out for the first time. It was information from a man identified as Helge B. that first led investigators to Christian Brueckner as they investigated the 2007 abduction in Portugal, and in his interview with a German newspaper, the witness revealed a chilling conversation with his old associate.

Police in Germany, Portugal and the U.K. have found little solid evidence after almost two decades investigating the disappearance of the British girl from her family's vacation apartment in Portugal's popular southern tourist region. The latest search, held just last month around a reservoir not far from where she disappeared, also seems to have brought no new insights.

Helge B., whose full name has not been released by German authorities, is a former acquaintance of Brueckner, the German suspect in the McCann case who's currently serving a prison sentence in his country for raping an elderly woman.

As a key witness in the case, Helge B. has been under protection for years by Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).

In his interview with Germany's biggest tabloid, Bild, Helge B. said he first found Brueckner to be a nice guy, but later discovered things that shocked him, including videos in Brueckner's apartment that the witness said depicted Brueckner sexually assaulting women.

"I could not believe it at all," he told the newspaper.

He said they didn't meet again until 2008, the year after McCann was abducted, at a festival in Spain.

Helge B. told Bild that Brueckner had asked him if he still traveled to Portugal for business, and he replied that there were too many police checks there since the disappearance of the British girl, adding to Brueckner: "I don't understand anyway how the little girl could disappear without a trace."

To this, Helge B. said Brueckner had replied: "She didn't even scream."

Helge B. told the newspaper that by the next day, Brueckner had disappeared. He suspects he'd noticed his old acquaintance's suspicion. 

Helge B. said he contacted London's Metropolitan Police, the agency leading the investigation, several times but got no immediate response. In 2018, he said the German Federal Criminal Police contacted him because they needed witnesses to testify about a rape that was seen on one of the videos found in Brueckner's apartment. 

Regarding the disappearance of McCann, Helge B. said he believes Brueckner planned a break-in at the McCanns' vacation apartment, but then found the children asleep and took Maddie.

"That probably wasn't planned at all," he told Bild, but he added that he does believe Brueckner is responsible for abducting McCann, and that the British girl is dead. "Whether he ended up killing her, I don't know."

In:
• Portugal
• Missing Girl
• Madeleine McCann
• Murder
• Child Abduction
• Germany