He Was Under The Bed, Lying On His Back... Staring At Me

Brueckner ex on German’s violence. He ‘smashed my head against wall’

- Martin Fricker And Dan Warburton

The former girlfriend of Christian Brueckner told how he brutally smashed her head against a toilet wall in a jealous rage after she innocently hugged a male pal.

And the 45-year-old Brit claimed the main suspect in the Madeleine McCann case later broke into her flat on the Algarve and lay in wait for her under her bed.

She feared he had planned to attack her again if she brought a man home.

Instead, the woman claimed, the German gave her a chilling stare and said calmly “goodbye” before leaving.

She alleges he then embarked on a stalking campaign against her, leaving her too afraid to walk home alone.

She now believes Brueckner, 43, may have been behind Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007 from her family’s holiday flat in Praia da Luz.

The woman, who is still so terrified of the paedophile she does not want to be identified, was working as a barmaid at Taberna de Lagos when she met Brueckner in 2003.

They later started dating and she said he was “charming and chivalrous” to begin with and they had a normal sex life. But she claimed he started to change and would get “angry about really small things”.

The ex told how he flew into jealous rages when other men paid her attention or even spoke to her.

And the fury allegedly erupted one New Year’s Eve, 2005, at the Metro Bar in Lago where she worked.

The woman, originally from Berkshire, said: “Chris was at the bar and was drunk. Some really nice guys I’d made friends with came in from the bar next door to say Happy New Year and gave me a hug.

“Chris just suddenly came round the bar in a crazy rage and dragged me out in front of everybody.