Maddie suspect raided hols'flat naked as three teen girls slept

Jailed Brueckner's ex-pal speaks out

- MARTIN FRICKER

MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian Brueckner broke into an Algarve holiday flat naked as three teenage girls slept, a court heard.

The German paedophile is then said to have fled when one of the terrified teens woke up and screamed.

Brueckner's former best pal Michael Tatschl, who lived with him in Praia da Luz, said he boasted about burgling apartments as holidaymakers slept.

Tatschl, who served jail time with Brueckner, 47, was also asked in court yesterday if he still believed that Brueckner abducted Madeleine to sell to a paedophile network.

Tatschl replied: "That was my suspicion, because he wanted money." He said he suspected it was for a paedophile network operating in Morocco because it was "near by" to Portugal.

Madeleine, then aged three, from Leicestershire, vanished from her parents' holiday flat in Praia da Luz in May 2007 as the couple dined at the nearby tapas bar.

Tatschl revealed in 2020 that he was "convinced" the German was behind her disappearance.