MADDIE SUSPECT WINKS AS VILE SEX CHARGES READ OUT

Prosecutor tells court Brueckner exposed himself to two young girls

- MARTIN FRICKER

The man suspected of abducting Madeleine McCann winked in court as details of his alleged sex assaults on women and children in Portugal were detailed for the first time.

One of the attacks is said to have happened weeks before three-year-old Madeleine vanished from her parents' holiday apartment in 2007.

German Christian Brueckner, 47, lived in a ramshackle farm in Praia da Luz, near where the McCann's were staying.

Yesterday, as his trial finally began, his lawyer complained the convicted paedophile was being persecuted over the child's disappearance in the Algarve.

Mentioning her name in court for the first time, Friedrich Fulscher said his client was under "worldwide media fire" over claims he "allegedly abducted and murdered Madeleine Beth McCann".

Brueckner is accused of raping three women and indecently exposing himself to two children between 2000 and 2017. Led in handcuffs into Braunschweig Regional Court in Germany shortly after 9am, he shook hands and winked at his lawyer before listening intently as Ute Lindemann opened the prosecution.

She said Brueckner raped an Irish holiday rep, a teenage girl and a pensioner between 2000 and 2006.

The following year, he exposed himself to a 10-year-old German girl on a beach close to Praia da Luz. The crime was allegedly carried out in April 2007 - less than a month before Madeleine was snatched.

The final charge relates to an alleged indecent exposure in front of an 11-year-old in 2017.