Brueckner was grabbed by dad 'after exposure at playground'

MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian Brueckner indecently exposed himself to a girl of 11 before her dad grabbed him to stop him fleeing, a court heard.

- Jeremy Armstrong

The convicted paedophile allegedly pulled down his trousers by a playground in the Portuguese town of Sao Bartolomeu de Messines in 2017.

The court heard how the girl ran to her dad nearby and told him what happened.

He sped around 164ft to make sure Brueckner could not make off and found him "pretending to make a mobile phone call using a packet of cigarettes".

The electrician, 53, said: "I asked him what he was doing and he did not answer and gave me no reason for being there so I called the police.

"I spoke to him in Portuguese and he tried to speak English.