Top Maddie suspect freed

BRUECKNER: PROSECUTORS STYMIED BY LACK OF EVIDENCE

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The top suspect in the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann in Portugal was freed from a German prison yesterday, an AFP journalist at the scene reported.

Christian Brueckner, 48, had been serving a seven-year term at Sehnde prison in northern Germany for rape, but he has not been charged in the McCann case because of a lack of evidence, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors in Braunschweig have accused him of being behind the disappearance of Madeleine, widely known as "Maddie", the notorious missing person case which has captivated the world media for years.