Germany: Madeleine McCann police find cellar on suspect’s allotment garden
Police today began a second day of searching an allotment garden near Hannover as part of their Madeleine McCann investigation, close to where suspect Christian Brueckner once lived
By Nick Fagge In Hannover, Germany
Daily Mail
July 29, 2020
Excerpt:
Madeleine McCann investigators have found a hidden cellar at the German allotment where kidnapping suspect Christian Brueckner allegedly lived in 2007.
Police discovered the basement in the foundations of a building which neighbours say was demolished in late 2007 or 2008, shortly after Brueckner left and months after Madeleine vanished.
Detectives have been removing slabs of building materials in a two-day search of the vegetable garden, accompanied by specialist search dogs that look for dead bodies and computer equipment.
Wolfgang Kossack, 73, who owns the plot next to Brueckner’s former allotment, told MailOnline that Brueckner had lived off-grid at the site in 2007 and talked about planning his return to southern Europe.
Mr Kossack said he only realised the link to Brueckner this week when police started digging up the allotment, saying: ‘I remembered his face from the pictures in the news. And I remember his van and his dogs. I had completely forgotten about him up until then.’
Last month a former friend of Brueckner reportedly claimed the kidnap suspect told him he had a cellar at a different property which he wanted to line with metal sheets ‘like Josef Fritzl’s’.
Brueckner – who is currently in jail in northern Germany – is suspected of killing Madeleine after she vanished from her Praia da Luz holiday apartment in May 2007, the same year that Brueckner lived at the allotment.
