Watch: Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner on trial in Germany for separate sexual assault cases

Watch as Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner goes on trial in Germany for separate sexual assault cases on Friday (16 February).

A Braunschweig court spokesperson is expected to give a statement during the trial against Brueckner, who is facing five charges for offences, which allegedly took place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017, which include the rape and sexual abuse of children.

He has never formally been charged over the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine and was first identified as a suspect by German prosecutors in 2020.

He has denied any involvement but was made a formal suspect by Portuguese prosecutors in 2022.

Brueckner’s lawyer told the BBC via email that he did not expect his client to make “substantive submissions” during the upcoming trial in Braunschweig, in Lower Saxony, which could span for months.

The five charges he faces include the rape of a young woman after entering her apartment in 2004, the sexual abuse of a child on a beach in 2007 and the sexual abuse of a child in a playground in 2017.

He has also been charged over the alleged rape of a girl believed to be 14 years old at his home in Praia da Luz between 2000 and 2006, as well as the rape of an unidentified woman in her holiday home in Portugal during the same time period.