British police officers involved in the hunt for Madeleine McCann will be asked to testify in the ongoing trial of prime suspect Christian Brueckner, MailOnline can exclusively reveal.
The sensational development means Scotland Yard detectives, who investigated the disappearance of then three-year-old Madeleine in 2007, must reveal what they know under oath for the first time.
MailOnline has been told that the officer dealing with key witness Helge Busching, Detective Constable Mark Draycott, will be called to testify at Brueckner’s current trial for unrelated sex crimes.
Mr Draycott was the Scotland Yard officer who took Busching’s statement in 2017 in a hotel room in the Greek capital Athens, where he told police of his fears that Brueckner was involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.
At the time, Busching, 50, had just been released from a human smuggling conviction and according to Greek media reports, he contacted Operation Grange to inform them of his suspicions.
British police officers involved in the hunt for Madeleine McCann will be asked to testify in the ongoing trial of prime suspect Christian Brueckner (pictured in court earlier this week), MailOnline can exclusively reveal
Madeleine McCann (pictured) went missing on May 3, 2007 at the age of three. She was never found. Criminal Christian Brueckner has been named by German prosecutors as the main suspect in her disappearance
In this statement, he told Operation Grange that Brueckner, 47, told him at a hippie festival in Orgiva, Spain, that Madeleine “didn’t scream” when she was taken from the holiday apartment where she was staying.
Officers from Operation Grange contacted colleagues in Germany and Brueckner’s background rape and pedophile convictions emerged and as a result he became the prime suspect.
In 2011, Scotland Yard under then Home Secretary Theresa May was asked to take over the investigation at the request of her boss, Prime Minister David Cameron, and Operation Grange was set up.
Since then they have been awarded more than £13 million and last month MailOnline revealed they had applied for a new £100,000 grant, which was expected to be given the green light.
Sources close to Brueckner’s defense team have told MailOnline that they have seen inconsistencies in what Busching told British police and what he told the court when he testified earlier this month.
They also want to know why Busching claims to be “under police protection” when there is apparently no threat to him as far as they know.
A source close to the legal team said: ‘We will be calling the British Police from Operation Grange to give evidence – especially the officers who spoke to Mr Helge Busching.
‘We want to know exactly what he told them and why what he told the court was different. This will be the first time the court has a chance to see exactly what is known about Brueckner.
“We’ve been asking for files on the case for years but haven’t seen anything, so let’s see what they have. They will have to go to court and talk under oath about what they know.’
The development comes after it was also revealed that a former British detective, Dave Edgar, who was hired by Kate and Gerry McCann from 2008 to 2011 when Scotland Yard took over, will also be questioned as part of Brueckner’s defense.
Busching claimed he called Mr Edgar in 2008 and tipped him off about Brueckner, but he does not remember taking the call and told MailOnline that if he had ‘known the details he would have acted’.
In his evidence, Busching told the court he had seen videos of Brueckner raping two women – one older and one younger – but they were never recovered and lawyers doubt they exist.
He claimed he found the images in 2006 and the following year Madeleine disappeared from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz. Her parents, from Rothley, Leicestershire, have since led a global campaign to find her.
In the photo: the holiday complex where the McCanns stayed in the Portuguese Algarve in May 2007, when their three-year-old daughter disappeared without a trace
On November 18 last year, prosecutors confirmed that Brueckner would stand trial on several charges of sexual abuse against women between the ages of 10 and 80.
It has since emerged that Busching is suffering from bowel cancer and his prognosis was described by a witness as ‘poor’, meaning he may not live to testify at a future trial.
Brueckner is currently serving seven years for the rape of an elderly American woman in the Algarve and was convicted in 2019.
He is currently on trial for a series of sexual attacks on women and children in the same area between 2000 and 2017 in Braunschweig, Germany, where he used to live.
MailOnline has contacted Scotland Yard for comment.
