Irish woman ‘in fear’ ahead of release of Christian Brueckner

By Rebecca Black, PA

An Irishwoman who alleged she was raped at knifepoint by the main suspect in the disappearance of toddler Madeleine McCann says she fears he will seek her out following his release from prison.

Christian Bruckner, 48, is due to be freed from a German jail in September after completing his sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old US woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2005.

Hazel Behan, 41, who has waived her right to anonymity, said she fears the German man will “hunt her down”.

Brueckner was acquitted by a German court in relation to the charge of violent rape of Ms Behan at her apartment in Praia da Rocha in Portugal’s Algarve.

She told The Sun: “His sentence may be ending but mine never did. I have lived with fear every day for 21 years.

“Fear that I’ll see him. Fear that he’ll find out where I live and hunt me down. I also have fear that he’ll do to someone else what he did to me.

“I’ve called him out in a public forum and I have genuine concern he could confront me.

“I wouldn’t put anything past a person like him.

“If he is released, I will worry for every woman and child who, like me, believes the justice system is protecting them.

“A leopard doesn’t change his spots.”

Later this year Ms Behan expects to discover the outcome of her High Court appeal in Germany against his acquittal for raping her, another woman and a girl in Portugal in 2004.

Ms Behan has accused the Portuguese authorities of alleged “inaction” in identifying and prosecuting Brueckner.

In April, she lodged an application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against the Portuguese authorities over their handling of her attack.

Ms Behan also expressed her sympathy and support for the Leicestershire-based family of Madeleine who went missing in Praia da Luz while on holiday with her family in 2007 when she was three years old.

“As a parent, I cannot begin to imagine what they have gone through and continue to go through every day for the past 18 years,” she said.

German and Portuguese police and firefighters carried out a three-day search of an area near Praia da Luz last week in the latest efforts to find out what happened to the missing child.