Detective Explains Madeleine McCann Case 14 Years On | This Morning

[Music] now today it marks 14 years since news broke across the world of madeleine mccann's disappearance well this year's anniversary holds particular significance as it comes just a week before what would have been madeleine's 18th birthday well before discussing the ongoing case let's remind ourselves of when the news first broke right here on itv daytime and how events unfolded so to discuss how the case has developed 14 years on we're joined by former detective chief superintendent sue hill sue hill thank you for coming in today um so this investigation is known as operation grange it's still an active missing persons inquiry it's not a murder inquiry um and uh and so and i said there it would have been madeline's 18th birthday coming up let's hope it will be because that's what her parents believe well of course i think that's what we all would hope wouldn't we i mean well you'd love an outcome that we find modeling but i think the reality is 14 years on and we would say it's every parent's worst nightmare they don't know nobody knows exactly where madeline is and operation grange the officers that are working on at the met police officers you know they call it a missing person inquiry because there is no firm evidence that madeleine isn't still alive and you follow the evidence and the intelligence now we know the recent events last year german police have got what they call their prime suspect um and they're investigating that but again um there's a lot of hearsay evidence which you know we say it's allegations have been made in the media german police have made appeals about this guy who lived out in portugal uh christian and brutneck and here we've got a picture of him and the problem is it's all well and good that it appears that he's told somebody that he was involved in maddy's murder but the problem is unless you've got firm evidence unless you've got forensic evidence then you can suspect and sadly over many years um i did go to families and say to them i think i could tell you who's killed your child but i'll never be able to prove it because unless you've got evidence and they can suspect but the good thing is i mean that guy is in prison um they know that it was important for a different offense yeah a great convicted um pedophile uh currently serving uh seven years for raping a 72 year old american in 2005. it's been reported importantly to say reported that christian bruckner is set to be charged with the rape of an irish tour rep on the algarve in portugal in 2004. um but again unless he confesses or unless some sort of new evidence is is proven that's difficult and and we go back to night one in that apartment and that's where so much evidence was lost well sadly on that night you know you can imagine when kate came back and i think i've read in 5a that apartment there were about 20 people that trampled over that scene and the reason for that is everybody's in shock they're hysterical they're trying to find your little girl um and prob the problem is then you've contaminated the scene that's your best time that's your best chance your best opportunity to seize forensic evidence and and sadly you know on reflection when the police and it's not a criticism we've said this before we're hoping it's not going to become a crime scene are you but 14 years on you know at the heart of this you know we're we're parents your worst nightmare and that little girl has not been found and the worst thing ever while the investigation continues is because all the time whoever abducted maddy is still out there then they got you know they can take another child they've committed this criminal act and it's frightening and it's shocking and we know pedophilia is rife we know it's rife online and they are out there and sadly we still don't know um where maddie is the german authorities um obviously as we said that they have named him as their prime suspect his brokenness lawyers always denied that he's had any involvement in this case um you believe that they were so public by announcing on tv about this they call it um uh that it would that it was a the murder suspect although we don't say that here because our system is very very different yeah um you believe that they did that to kind of trigger bruckner into saying something so just explain what you just wonder why have they been so public there's been also a documentary about it german police been very very public because it suggested that he told somebody on maddie's 10th anniversary of when she went missing over a drink so are they trying to get him to talk but the point is i don't know why they would have done that because he will be alerted to the fact that you know the german police are talking about him why would he ever admit to taking a child and killing a child knowing that you're going to go away for a very very long time so i always think it's you know as an investigator you keep those things up your sleeve and so that you don't give out everything you've got until you can support and cooperate the evidence so in your experience of a long career with criminals the fact that he would say that that does that if you were leading the investigation does that lead you to think that's just bravado and bragging or he has done something extraordinary here i think in his case when you look at his backgrounds he's got the means the motive the background offending the behavior he was in the right place he was in portugal but you can't assume anything you have to actually get that evidence to support you know your gut feeling they might have a gut feeling and over the years lots of investigations you have a gut feeling you think they've done it but unless you've got the evidence and you know you go back to cases like jeanette tate you might remember in 1978 the young girl went missing never found never found her unless you know and i we all hope don't we that maddie would be found alive you know she's at the heart of this investigation that little girl that's gone but there is no evidence with the with the team of um met officers who are working on this continually how much contact will they have with kate and jerry madeleine's parents will they be keeping them informed of what's going on well yes but the thing is after 14 years you can imagine the family don't want to hear of every sighting i mean i remember of which they've been saying oh there have been so many over the years everybody doing it for the right right reason everybody wants to help you know we all want to help but the problem being you know they would now be in contact but the liaison would be very limited unless there's something specific because how many times have that family been let down and all the theories there's been more speculation and yeah different theories about you know the guy who was seen walking with a little chant and all these theories have been blown out of the water because there was no evidence but they had to be bottomed out all those inquiries had to be pursued but today i think what the german police are hoping that they know that bruckner he had a camper van back in 2007 he was living in portugal for a number of years has anyone got any information because the other thing if he committed other criminal offences and they suspect it's him that took maddie again suspect um if they can keep him in prison for other offences at least that keeps other people safe and even if they can't ever prove and we may never know um if he's committed other offenses that's their motive they want people to come forward absolutely it's just hard even if it's information that you think is small insignificant you never know it might be that piece of the puzzle the trouble is 14 years on you know we're 14 years on and this has been one of the biggest stories missing people inquiries ever you know there are very few people who haven't heard of this um unless you've been living under a stone but um with all that exhausted investigations there's still no real evidence up there where maddie is well um we asked the met for a statement and they referred us to a statement they issued last year um the met police in june last year made a public appeal for information where they were looking for information relating to two vehicles and two mobile phone numbers that a suspect currently imprisoned in germany is known to have had access to and used around the time of madeleine's disappearance there's a 20 000 pound met reward for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible for the disappearance of madeleine mccann and and quite recently um this may kate and jerry said we hang on to the hope however small that we will see madeleine again as we've said repeatedly we need to know what has happened to our lovely daughter no matter what four officers um apparently working on on this case continue to work on this case how long can it stay open well i suppose as long as there's lines of inquiry and investigations to pursue and you know i said earlier at the heart of this is a little girl and someone took her somebody has taken her who took her and once that person remains undetected that person poses a threat to other children and and we can't have that you know it's a little girl who's gone and we need to find out who did it thank you thank you thank you very much

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Length: 9min 32sec (572 seconds)

Published: Tue May 04 2021