Maddie voicemail that changed case

Detective reveals answerphone tip that made Brueckner a suspect

-  MARTIN FRICKER 

A MET Police detective has told how the Madeleine McCann case was blown open by a voicemail on a Scotland Yard answer machine.

DC Mark Draycott revealed they had a phone tip off about Madeleine and convicted paedophile Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in the three-year-old's 2007 disappearance.

The May 2017 call to Scotland Yard came from Brueckner's ex-friend Helge Busching, a court heard.

Busching knew the German in the Algarve in the mid 2000s. He said when they discussed Madeleine, Brueckner told him: "She did not scream."

DC Draycott, 49, has been on Operation probing Grange, Madeleine's case, since its launch in 2011. He told the court in Braunschweig, Germany: "On May 18, I checked the answer phone and there was a message.

"It was from a male by the sound of his voice, he spoke good English and he asked to speak to David Edgar [private investigator].

"He said he had information and he left a Greek mobile number.