The case of the disappearance of the girl Madeleine McCann against the suspected German pedophile Christian Brueckner “is about to collapse” as the former friend who gave a damning statement is “faltering” and threatens to stop helping the investigation” , as reported by the British press.

The fear that has now been raised is that Helge Busching is about to withdraw his evidence against Brueckner, 45, considered a key suspect in Madeleine's disappearance since last year.

The case could collapse, given that it focuses heavily on the testimony of his former friend who claimed that he told him when they were talking about Madeleine's disappearance that “she didn't scream.”

Busching gave Brueckner's name to British police in 2017, around the 10th anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.

Busching claims Brueckner told him at a Spanish kite festival in 2008 that he was involved in Madeleine's kidnapping in Praia da Luz a year earlier.

Rapist and pedophile

However, it was not until German prosecutors announced they were investigating Brueckner in June that British police revealed they had received a tip about him in 2017.

Brueckner, a convicted rapist and pedophile, is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2005.

Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, on Portugal's Algarve coast, in May 2007.