Madeleine McCann’s suspected abduction and murder could go unpunished forever if a suspect is not brought in front of a court in just over three weeks.
Portuguese prosecutors could lose the opportunity to get justice for the missing youngster’s parents on the 15th anniversary of her disappearance.
It emerged last month Scotland Yard is going to end its 11-year Operation Grange probe, set up four years after the three-year-old vanished from her family apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3 2007.
Last night legal experts confirmed the chances of a successful prosecution in Portugal could be dealt a hammer blow the day Kate and Gerry McCann remember their eldest daughter a decade and a half on from the holiday mystery.
The family’s lawyer Rogerio Alves warned in July 2020 his country’s 15-year limit on prosecutions meant there was less than two years left to take action against chief suspect Christian Brueckner.
Christian Brueckner is the prime suspect in the little girl’s disappearance
REX/Shutterstock)
Bruckner is currently behind bars and denies any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance
PA Images)
And last night Portuguese legal experts admitted the chances of prosecuting anyone over Madeleine’s disappearance would be “greatly reduced” after this year’s May anniversary.
Lawyer Spencer Dohner, of MDM Legal, said: “I think the likeliest scenario with the information we have right now is that it all falls after 15 years.
“Portugal has a statute of limitations which means the authors of crimes punishable by a maximum prison sentence of more than 10 years cannot generally be prosecuted once 15 years has passed.
“This of course means the ability to prosecute in Portugal in the Madeleine McCann case after May 3 this year could be terminated.
“If she were found alive and had been the victim of sex crimes as a minor, legal proceedings could take place until she was 23.
It is not known what happened to Madeleine after she vanished
PA)
“But if Madeleine is dead as the German authorities believe and was murdered in Portugal around the time she vanished, the cut-off point for prosecution would be the 15th anniversary of her disappearance under normal circumstances barring any technical issues that could potentially pause the time limit like the Covid pandemic.
“There are some arguments that could be debated but my perception and understanding of the law is that it’s 15 years and that’s it.
“If we had a situation where a body was found and we had reasons to believe it was murder and the authorities here had a person to accuse, we would have a limitation of those 15 years.”
Another Lisbon-based lawyer, who asked not to be named, added: “Police and prosecutors in Portugal will be acutely aware of the time limits hanging over the Maddie case.
“Our statute of limitations brings with it the probability that within a matter of weeks, the person responsible for her disappearance may never be brought to justice in the country where she vanished even with an arrest and confession.”
It is thought prime Maddie suspect Christian Brueckner, currently behind bars in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old tourist, would have to be made an ‘arguido’ in Portugal before May 3 to facilitate any eventual prosecution on the Algarve.
Well-placed sources said last night they viewed it as “highly unlikely.”
The Scotland Yard decision to close its investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance has been linked to the feeling among police chiefs German authorities have insufficient evidence to bring a case against convicted paedophile and rapist Brueckner.
Portugal’s Attorney General agreed to reopen the investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance in October 2013, more than five years after it was archived, following a formal request from the Policia Judiciaria.
It is being led from the Algarve city of Portimao.
PJ chief Helena Monteiro is believed to be still heading an ongoing Portuguese police ‘cold case’ review from the northern city of Porto.
In October 2013 she quizzed the widow of a former worker at the tourist complex where Madeleine’s parents were staying when she vanished.
Serial thief Euclides Lopes Monteiro, who died in a tractor accident in August 2009, has never been publicly ruled out as a suspect despite calls from his family for police to confirm his innocence.
