Madeleine McCann suspect was 'always nervous' after return from Portugal, says man who put him up in his attic
The prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case reportedly slept at a friend's attic in Germany and grew cannabis there a short while after leaving Portugal following the three-year-old girl's disappearance in 2007. Christian Brueckner showed up at the Braunschweig residence of his pal Alexander Bischof and told him he was "between jobs and had no money." As a favor, Bischof agreed to give Brueckner shelter for a while and took on the registration of his Jaguar in his name, per the Daily Mail.
It was previously reported how the suspect had re-registered his 1993 Jaguar XJR6 on May 4, 2007 -- the day after Madeleine went missing. The vehicle is now a crucial part of the investigation into the girl's disappearance. "He was always anxious, never relaxed. His eyes would always dart around the room when you were trying to have a conversation," 64-year-old Bischof told the Daily Mail. "He was always a little nervous. He just couldn't hold down a job and I tried to encourage him to do so."
"He said he grew up in an orphanage and never ever mentioned any family," the landlord continued. "He never really stayed in one place. He only talked about his girlfriend Maria – I think she was English and was working in Portugal. He said he missed her all the time."
According to Bischof, both men shared a "passion for Jaguar vehicles." However, he had to kick Brueckner out after discovering he was a drug dealer and was growing marijuana in his attic. "He was using my living space and is then dealing drugs. That's a no-go, I thought," he said.
Some time after Brueckner left, police came to search his attic, he said. They mentioned "Maddie" and a "murder" and showed a particular interest in Brueckner's Jaguar, Bischof said. "I was baffled. I was stunned, it was unbelievable. I would never have thought that of him," he explained to the outlet. "He never spoke a word about such things. We never talked about young children, our talks were always dealing with cars, football, and Portugal. Men's stuff."
Authorities revealed yesterday they were preparing to dig up land around two Portuguese properties where Brueckner had once lived. According to the report, one of the houses is located just 25 minutes from the hotel where Madeleine went missing 13 years ago. Bischof recalled how Brueckner had lots of expensive items when he returned from Portugal, before he realized he had been stealing. "He had a very expensive camera and also a laptop. He even came back with a Rolex once and even a Breitling watch," Bischof said. "He was trying to sell them, but I started to realize that he was stealing while working in his jobs in the hotels there."
According to Bischof, Brueckner was "proud" to have figured out a way to dry cannabis in his roof and later selling it. "I thought something is not right with this man. It was not good for me or my mother and wife who lived here too," the landlord said. "My wife never liked him. When he entered the room, she would leave."
But Bischof wrote to Brueckner a few weeks after he left the home, urging him to get "on the right path." "I said it was only a matter of time before he would end up in the jailhouse and that he needed to sort out his ways," Bischof recalled, but "never heard from him again."