The sexual deviant was also a burglar. Photo / 60 Minutes
The sexual deviant was also a burglar. Photo / 60 Minutes
Videos found inside one of squalid "secret lairs" of convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner and chief suspect in the Madeleine McCann case could hold vital clues to the girl's 2007 disappearance.
German police discovered thousands of videos on hard-drives and USB drives buried at a property owned by Brueckner, 60 Minutes reports.
The key suspect in three-year-old British child Maddie McCann's abduction lived in a house in Monte Judeu just 8km from the Ocean Club apartment in Portugal from where Madeleine was abducted.
In the hills above Praia da Luz on a secluded road surrounded by just a few other houses, it was just an 11-minute drive from the McCanns' resort.
The Praia da Luz apartment (above) from which Maddie McCann disappeared. Photo / 60 Minutes
But 43-year-old Brueckner also had a "vile and disgusting" shack about 3km from where the McCanns' nightmare began on the night of May 3, 2007.
Pictures released by German police show the two dilapidated homes Brueckner lived in as he spent time in Praia da Luz between 1996 and 2007, targeting holiday homes to burgle.
Tonight, 60 Minutes reports on how police are said to be closing in on Brueckner, currently in jail for another crime in Praia da Luz, the rape of a 72-year-old woman.
A witness who gave evidence at the rape trial said he had seen Brueckner "climb through open windows in one or another holiday flat".
It is not clear yet if any of the videos contain evidence relating to Madeleine McCann.
Police have seized videos and USBs from a property occupied by Christian Brueckner. Photo / 60 Minutes
But 60 Minute claims they could provide a much-needed breakthrough in the case.
German prosecutors declared on June 4 that as well as Brueckner being the prime suspect in Maddie's case, they believe the little girl is no longer alive.
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters is leading the investigation into Christian Brueckner and told reporter Liz Hayes he assumes that Madeleine is dead.
The sexual deviant was also a burglar. Photo / 60 Minutes
"We have strong evidence that Madeleine McCain is dead and that our suspect killed her," he said.
Pictures of Brueckner's property close to Praia da Luz show rubbish strewn about an overgrown garden.
The Sun newspaper reported in early June that Brueckner's former neighbours described him as an "angry" man who had suddenly vanished in 2006, leaving unpaid rent.
A woman who helped clean up the property afterwards described it as "disgusting, absolutely vile" with broken items and a bag containing "wigs and exotic clothing".
It has emerged that Brueckner, who was 30 years old at the time of Maddie McCann's disappearance, has prior convictions for "sexual contact with girls".
While frequenting the Praia da Luz region over more than a decade, he is believed to have worked odd jobs, but also committed hotel burglaries and sold drugs.
Around the time of Madeleine's abduction, Brueckner was driving a white and yellow camper van which he also sometimes lived in.
Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann have described the breakthrough identifying Brueckner as prime suspect as the "most significant development in 13 years" of their anguish.
