Irish woman 'in fear' ahead of release of main suspect in Madeleine McCann probe
An Irishwoman who alleged she was raped at knifepoint by the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann fears he will seek her out after his release from prison.
Christian Brueckner, 48, is due to be freed from a German jail in September after serving his sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.
Hazel Behan, 41, who has waived her right to anonymity, said: 'His sentence may be ending but mine never did. I have lived with fear every day for 21 years.
'Fear I'll see him. Fear he'll find out where I live and hunt me down. I also have fear that he'll do to someone else what he did to me.
'I wouldn't put anything past a person like him. A leopard doesn't change his spots.'
Brueckner was acquitted by a German court over the violent rape of Ms Behan at her apartment in Praia da Rocha in Portugal.
Later this year she will discover the outcome of her German High Court appeal against his acquittal for raping her, another woman and a girl in Portugal in 2004.
Ms Behan accused the Portuguese authorities of 'inaction' in identifying and prosecuting Bruckner.
In April, she lodged an application to the European Court of Human Rights against over their handling of her attack.
Ms Behan also expressed her sympathy and support for Madeleine's family. Maddie was just three years old went missing in Praia da Luz while on holiday with her family in 2007.
Ms Behan said: 'I cannot begin to imagine what they continue to go through every day.'
German and Portuguese police and firefighters carried out a three-day search of an area near Praia da Luz last week in the latest fruitless efforts to find out what happened to the missing child.
Ms Behan also spoke about Brueckner's impending release in an exclusive interview with this newspaper earlier this year.
She said 'He knows who I am. Well, he always knew who I was, I just didn't know who he was.
'But I suppose now, at this stage, he knows me a lot better as this person that I am now. But I can't live in that fear, if you know what I mean?
'I have to remind myself all the time that, you know, I am not that kind of person.
'I don't live that kind of lifestyle at all like, in fact, quite the opposite, thankfully.
'But I can't allow for him to take any more from me than he already has and I'm not going to give him that.
'Like, is there a fear in the back of my mind? 100 per cent. But my fear isn't just, as I said, about me. It's bigger than that. I mean, if he wants to come at me again, he better put his boxing gloves on because I'm ready for him this time. I'm not 20 anymore. I'm not a baby and I will kick ten shades of sh*te out of him if he came near me again. But, on a real human level and not to be funny or anything, but yeah he terrifies me.'
The court ultimately acquitted Brueckner in October of raping Ms Behan - ruling that there was insufficient evidence to find the convicted rapist and child abuser guilty.
Ms Behan also spoke in detail about the trauma she suffered as a result of the horrific crime in 2004 - and how it continues to affect her to this day.
'You're very much stuck there. Not by choice. It's like something is just imprinted on you. The sad thing about it is I didn't choose that. This is something that, not to sound dramatic, but it murders the person that you were. You're gone,' she said.
Speaking about living with that trauma, Ms Behan said she is still constantly battling with the horror she suffered 20 years on.
'Nothing is ever going to take away the fact that that happened. So for me, I think the hardest part of that was the control I felt he still had in my life, and still does have and I hate admitting that,' she told us. 'I have developed, you know, different quirks in my life, like I won't travel on holidays without, like, a portable door lock because of him. My family has suffered because of him. My friends have suffered. Like this is all because of him.'
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His phone was in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine vanished and made a 30-minute call from the area. 6 Young Maddie vanished on May 3, 2007 in Portugal Credit: Alamy 6 Brueckner appeared in court earlier this year over verbal assaults on prison guards Credit: Rob Pattinson Advertisement His Jaguar was re-registered into a name the day after the disappearance. A Sun investigation this year revealed bombshell new evidence - including Brueckner's obsession with snatching and abusing small, young, blonde girls. We also placed him at key police locations of interest, including a lake where cops dug for evidence, And we showed evidence he was at the scene of an al-but-confession when he allegedly said Maddie 'did not scream,' in 2008. Advertisement Our probe - aired on Channel 4 - revealed the existence of a hard-drive and laptop containing crucial picture evidence on the case. Police maintain they have physical evidence Maddie is dead - but no forensic links. German police have recently stressed the value UK authorities could provide by getting involved in the case again before Brueckner's release. He has refused to rule out leaving Germany and insisted he will go to ground on his release. Advertisement If he travelled to a non-extradition country all hopes for McCann justice could disappear with him. Timeline of Maddie's disappearance May 3, 2007 Madeleine McCann disappears from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, sparking a January 15, 2016 Neighbour reports a possible 'grave' at Brueckner's abandoned factory in East Germany. Cops find disturbing February 16, 2016 Christian Brueckner is convicted for abusing a girl of five in a park after images found on his laptop. He was sentenced to 15-months behind bars but was already on the run by then. May 3, 2017 Around this time, He reports an alleged confession by Christian Brueckner. 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Prosecutors hope for a conviction to keep him behind bars permanently and lead to McCann charges. October 8, 2024 Prosecutors launch an appeal, however. Decision pending. September 17, 2025 Date on which Prosecutors require an arrest warrant for a retrial over claims from last year - or over the McCann case. June 1, 2025 Police order a renewed search for clues in Praia Da Luz on the Algarve in Portugal. It lasts for just three days. 6 Brueckner is serving time in jail after being convicted of rape Credit: Rex Features 6 Police tirelessly dug for new clues in Portugal two weeks ago Credit: Dan Charity
