The witness who first linked a sex offender prime suspect to the abduction of Madeleine McCann has told how he is convinced he knows what happened to her.

Police in Portugal are this week making fresh searches for clues to Madeleine’s disappearance on land close to the former home of German paedophile Christian Brueckner.

Helge Busching, a former friend of Brueckner, first linked the German to her abduction as long ago as 2008 – just a year after she disappeared.

Busching told MailOnline: ‘I am convinced Brueckner is involved. There has to now be some hope for Madeleine’s parents.’

The then three-year-old vanished from a holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007 and it has been 18 years of heartache for her parents Kate and Gerry as well as her now teenage two siblings.

The following year at a musical festival in Portugal Brueckner made remarks that made his friend convinced to this day that he was responsible.

As he spoke out, searches in Portugal continued for a second day in the hope of finding vital evidence linking Brueckner to Madeleine.

Busching’s evidence against his former friend has already proved vital in sending Brueckner to jail previously – for seven years in 2019 when he was convicted of raping an elderly American woman in Praia da Luz, just two years before Madeleine vanished.

Former roofer Busching, who has also given a statement to Scotland Yard, claims Brueckner told him in 2008 at a Spanish festival that it was ‘strange Madeleine didn’t scream’ when she was taken.

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Madeleine McCann vanished on May 3, 2007, while on holiday with her parents and siblings

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German paedophile Christian Brueckner in 2024. Police in Portugal are making fresh searches for clues to Madeleine’s disappearance on land close to the former home of the suspect

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A year after her disappearance Brueckner made remarks that made his friend Helge Busching, pictured, convinced to this day that he was responsible

Busching told MailOnline: ‘That man is evil, he’s bad and he deserves to stay behind bars.

‘I know he is capable of taking Madeleine and I told Scotland Yard and the German BKA (police) the same thing.

‘When he said ‘she didn’t scream’ we were talking our language, German and I could tell from his voice and gestures what he meant, there is no misunderstanding.

‘I just pray to God that they find something to keep him in jail. The BKA wouldn’t spend all this money to send a team to Portugal of they didn’t think it was worth it.

‘They have to find something because time is running out, Brueckner could go free in September and if he does, he will disappear, and justice won’t be done.’

Busching was interviewed by Scotland Yard in 2017 and spent three days with them but initially told the McCanns private investigator Dave Edgar about his suspicions in 2008 – a year after Madeleine was abducted.

Busching was interviewed in Greece for three days with detectives from Operation Grange – the unit tasked with investigating Madeleine’s disappearance – flying out to see him and they were so concerned about leaks they swept the room for bugs.

During the interviews he told them that Brueckner had ‘confessed’ to him he was Madeleine’s abductor saying, ‘she didn’t cry’ and this has what grabbed investigators attention.

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Fresh police searches are under way near the spot where Madeleine was last seen near Praia da Luz, Portugal

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Firefighters and search teams check a well at a derelict and abandoned property to the west of Praia De Luz, Portugal, where searches are being carried out by officers investigating the disappearance of Madeleine

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Kate and Gerry McCann stop to talk to the Press after a church service in Praia da Luz in 2007

British police then contacted German police and told them about Brueckner, and he was eventually announced as the prime suspect for Madeleine’s abduction and murder in June 2020.

He is due to be released from jail in September but only if he pays outstanding fines of 1500 Euro although sources close to his legal team claimed he didn’t have any money so he would stay behind bars until January 2027.

At the 2019 rape trial Busching told the court that he recognised Brueckner in a vile video he found at his house showing him raping and abusing an elderly woman and another young girl.

Brueckner has insisted that he is innocent of the 2005 rape and that DNA evidence used at his trial is flawed while he has also denied any involvement in Madeleine’s abduction.

Searches of scrubland at Atalaia, around three miles from the Ocean Club complex where Madeleine vanished from continued on Wednesday and are expected to continue on Thursday.

Officers using chainsaws and strimmers could be seen cutting away undergrowth surrounding abandoned buildings and then using shovels and pickaxes to break up soil which was taken away for examination.

Initial suggestions that police would also search former homes Brueckner used to live in while working and living in Praia da Luz also appeared to be wide of the mark.

Police have significant amounts of circumstantial evidence linking Brueckner to the scene, his mobile phone was logged there and his profile as a convicted paedophile and rapist fits the bill but they are still lacking a ‘smoking gun’ to charge him with.

Publicly Portuguese police are providing support and help but privately they are questioning the motive and have shrugged their shoulders and rolled their eyes when asked what they expect to find.