MADDIE SUSPECT'S 'NIGHT-TIME RAIDS ON RESORT HOMES'

Brueckner scaled local buildings, court hears

- PATRICK HILL

MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian Brueckner crept into properties at night to "take stuff" in the area where the young Brit vanished, a court heard yesterday.

The convicted rapist and paedophile is on trial in his native Germany accused of a string of sex crimes, including rapes and grabbing a girl on a Portuguese beach near where Maddie disappeared weeks later in Praia da Luz.

In video testimony shown at Braunschweig Regional Court, former pal Christian Post, 56, said: "He said during the night he was active in Praia da Luz and spoke about climbing up on buildings when the windows were open and he would take stuff. He said he climbed trees or scaled buildings.