Madeleine McCann: Christian Brückner dug another 10-ft-deep cellar miles away, current owner scared of 'sleeping on a body'
Christian Brückner, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, had dug another cellar under a second allotment. The second cellar was discovered just days after German police uncovered the first, it has been claimed. MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) previously reported that investigators from the Braunschweig prosecutor's office and Federal Crime Police Office in Germany had launched a search operation at an allotment in Seelze, Hanover after they were tipped off about Brückner having lived there around the time Madeleine went missing.
Brückner, a 43-year-old convicted pedophile who is currently in jail for a string of drug-related offenses, is believed to have stayed at the location off-grid in 2007. When investigators raided the plot, they found an underground cellar that many believe could hold crucial evidence in Madeleine's disappearance.
The Sun is now claiming that Brückner dug another 10-foot-deep cellar under a second allotment in Braunschweig which is around 40 miles from the Hanover plot. The 43-year-old is said to have lived at a decrepit home in the allotment with his girlfriend between 2013 and 2016.
Brückner was reportedly living at the home when Inga Gehricke, a five-year-old girl dubbed the "German Maddie" vanished nearby. She disappeared in May 2015 while enjoying a barbecue with her family and he was, at one point in time, considered a suspect in the case. When investigators raided his farmhouse 55 miles away from the spot in Neuwegersleben where Gehricke was last seen, they found pictures of child abuse on a USB stick and young girl's clothing but nothing to link him to the five-year-old. He was ultimately never prosecuted for it.
Sabine Sellig, who had later purchased the plot of land from Brückner, has now come out to express concern that the pedophile may have hidden evidence at her site as well. "I’m worried I’m sleeping on a body," she said. Manfred Richter, 80, who lives nearby, recalled how the 43-year-old had gotten into trouble for digging the cellar and dumping stones over two months. "He covered the hole with planks," he shared.
However, prosecutors are yet to comment on whether they are planning a dig on this second site as well. At the first site, which is now council-owned, witnesses described police lifting a cement block covering the basement during the first day of digging. Neighbors said the structure had been mysteriously demolished in late 2007 or 2008, just months after Madeleine went missing.
According to the Telegraph, officers led a sniffer dog into the underground cellar and it barked when it entered. "The sniffer dogs were barking quite a lot in the morning," one witness said. By the evening of Tuesday, July 28, police had dug a two-meter-deep hole at the center of the allotment and had erected forensic tents next to it. The digging continued from 7 am the next day in a different area of the garden, with cement and other heavy-duty materials seen being removed from the site. At least seven police vehicles, including a truck, were present at the scene as well but it is unclear if investigators found anything of note.