Madeleine McCann: German suspect loses appeal against rape conviction

Christian B is in prison in Germany

Christian B is serving a sentence for drug offences  (Italian Carabinieri)

The prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has had his appeal against a rape conviction rejected.

Christian B is currently in prison in Kiel, Germany, for drug offences. 

He was given a seven-year sentence, which he will begin serving in January, for raping a 72-year-old woman.

The key suspect in the Madeleine McCann case attacked the American woman in 2005, in Portugal’s Praia da Luz – the same area where three-year-old Madeleine disappeared in 2007.

Police revealed in June that Christian B was the main suspect in the case, as part of a new appeal for information about the girl’s disappearance.

He has previously been convicted for sexually abusing children.

The rejection of his appeal means Christian B, as he is known under German privacy laws, will remain in jail beyond January, when his term for the drug offences ends.

He was extradited from Italy to Germany on drug trafficking charges in 2018, before being separately convicted of rape and handed a seven-year prison sentence.

The 43-year-old man has not been convicted of any crime related to Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.

Christian B challenged the validity of the extradition on the grounds that it cited a drugs conviction but not a rape charge.

Police have said he was frequently living in the Algarve region, where Madeleine was last seen, between 1995 and 2007. They said he had worked in the area as well as committing crimes including burgling hotels and dealing drugs.

There have been reports that the investigation into the suspect’s connection with the three-year-old’s abduction could be closed in the new year as prosecutors run into a “brick wall”.

Portuguese police reportedly believe the German investigation into the man has wasted precious time as they ruled him out as a suspect shortly after Madeleine McCann went missing from the resort in Praia da Luz.

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said he believes Christian B was responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance and that while prosecutors have evidence leading them to believe he killed her, it is not strong enough to charge him.

The case is still a “missing persons” investigation in the UK because there is no “definitive evidence” to show whether Madeleine is alive or not, the Metropolitan Police said in July.