According to the Associated Press (AP), which cites the German news agency DPA, the Braunschweig state court decided to lift the arrest warrant in a case in which Brückner is accused of three counts of rape and two counts of sexual abuse of children, between 2000 and 2017, understanding that there is “no urgent suspicion”.

The German is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for another crime committed in Portugal in 2005, when he raped an elderly woman in her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, the same place where the English child disappeared in 2007.

Brückner has not been formally charged with any crime in the Madeleine McCann case.

The German spent several years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz, around the time the English child disappeared in 2007, but always denied any involvement in her disappearance.

In the ongoing trial regarding sexual assaults, Brückner's lawyers presented a request to annul the arrest warrant, with the court deciding that there were no “strong suspicions” regarding the charges against him.

According to the AP, a decision in this process is expected in the autumn.

In 2020, Brückner was designated as the main suspect in the case of Madeleine McCann's disappearance, a case investigated over years without the child being found.