A former friend of Christian Brueckner, the key suspect in the Madeleine McCann trial, said he discovered sick rape footage in the 47-year-old’s home in the Algarve, a court has heard.
Manfred Seyferth, who previously labelled him an “evil man”, said he ransacked Brueckner’s home in 2006 where he found footage of an “old woman who was being abused and a young girl being abused”.
Seyferth, 68, said Brueckner stole the video camera he used to film the sexual exploits from a holiday home in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz.
The court also heard that Brueckner worked in hotels around the resort where McCann disappeared, which he would regularly steal from.
Christian Brueckner filmed himself abusing an old woman and young girl on a camera he stole from an Algarve resort, a court heard
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One incident captured on film included Brueckner hitting a naked old woman with a ruler.
Another horrifying clip showed the convicted rapist dancing around a young girl who was tied to a post before he forced her to perform a sex act on him.
Seyferth, a drifter, has been crucial in giving evidence against Brueckner in his ongoing trial related to a string of rape charges. His friend Helge Busching, who also knew the 47-year-old, has also been pivotal.
Answering questions in court today he said: “Helge showed me the tape. He came with a camera - an old model, a big kind of one.
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One incident captured on film included Brueckner hitting a naked old woman with a ruler
REUTERS“I tried to push the abuse out of my mind. I just said ‘throw the fucking thing away’.
“When I looked I saw the old woman and this girl who was tied up. I saw a woman on a table and he hit her on the breast with a ruler. She was totally naked but you could only make out her breast and face.
“I recognised Christian Brueckner in the video - I could tell from the voice. It was just the way he spoke.”
He told the court that he saw Brueckner’s face clearly in one of the videos, whilst in the other, he recognised his voice.
Describing the young girl in the second video, he said: “She was tied to a post and Brueckner was dancing around her.
Christian Brueckner has been a prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case since 2022GETTY“He forced her to perform a sex act on him then when she was unwell he said ‘you are ruining my carpet’.”
As a photo of the pole the girl was allegedly tied to was shown in court, Brueckner showed no reaction.
Seyfreth initially did not want to have anything to do with the case, even after detectives from Scotland Yard tracked him down to Greece.
However, he was later confronted by the German FBI (BKA), whom he decided to engage with.