r/MadeleineMccann

I have no experience if the German prosecution system but within the many hours of reading this past few weeks, I came across something which said that CB was sentenced to 6 weeks in prison for an offence against a prison officer, which CB appealed and due to a delay is to be heard in Autumn 2026.

I also read that "not guilty" verdicts in Germany can be appealed and that the case against CB in 2024 has been appealed. It relates to 5 victims of CB's.

Just going off of what I have read, but wondered if anyone who does understand how German law works have any more information and knowledge?

As CB is the prime suspect in Madeleine's disappearance, not her parents, and because that case appears to have taken a new step in July 2026, do you think that his police surveiance is mostly to keep track of him until these cases get to court, if they get to court?

I fully understand that what i read may not be accurate.

What if, based on statements present, and based on opinions, that the parents aren't guilty of any crime and CB isn't responsible, what if, hypothetically speaking, the real person guilty for the disappearance is reading the posts and comments in this reddit? And also commenting.

Just asking.

Has it been mentioned somewhere that CB thinks that if he wasn't under police surveillance that he would be attacked by other paedophiles?

And if he did say this, why would he think that is the case?

If he didn't mention other paedophiles, did he mean the public? As I understand it, before he went to live in a tent, the worst thing that happened was that people protested about where they had placed him to live.

Regarding CB, to my knowledge the following pieces of open source information give me the strong impression that he’s responsible.

Location
• At least 2 eye witness sightings of a blond haired male with a distinctive badly pockedmarked face lurking around the OC that week.
• A sighting of a blond haired male ‘testing the gate’ of 5a on the afternoon of the 3rd May.
• CB’s phone used in the area on the evening of the 3rd of May.
• CB telling his ex GF that he was near the apartment that night
• His ‘fling’ that he was seeing that week being unable to account for his whereabouts on the 3rd May.
• A criminal history of burglary. Burglaries at the OC around the time. Notably with shutters raised & windows opened - same MO in 5a.
• Reportedly familiar with the OC because he’d work there as a pool cleaner previously.
• A fourfold increase in the number of burglaries in the area appears to be tandem with his release from prison in Nov 06.
• SY stated that his van was seen in the area on the days leading up to 3rd May.

Offence
• History of sexually assaulting women, including young girls.
• History of premeditated sexual crime & opportunistic sexual crime.
• Talked in a Skype chat about abducting, assaulting & killing a little girl. When talking about a method of death, he was asked “has this happened with you before”, in which he replied “ok, such messages are really dangerous”. If the answer is no, then his answer is no.
• Wrote stories abducting, assaulting & killing a little girl. A girl in one of his stories was named MaidAnellie. IMO, not too dissimilar to the name Madeleine.
• In Orgiva 2008, the subject of how MM went missing without a trace, he replied “well she didn’t scream”. He reportedly took off in the middle of night (after making that comment).
• Thousands of pictures & videos of child sexual assault
• 75 children’s swimsuits
• Further charges of assaulting a little girl.

Aftermath
• Re-registered his car the next day
• Left Portugal in 2007, his home of 12 years & went back to the country he fled from in the first place (Germany)
• Reportedly became agitated & verbal, when the subject of MM came up in a kiosk he was working in.
• In 2013, when sent a letter to come in for a witness interview in the MM case, he reportedly went into panic mode & post interview he said something along the lines of “don’t worry they have nothing on me”.
• Remained off grid

German, English, Portuguese investigations into CB

• Still ongoing, none of them have pulled out.
• Germans state they have “concrete evidence” that he is responsible & that what they have is “material evidence” but not forensic evidence. Non-forensic material evidence is either or a combination of video, pictures, audio, written.
• When asked whether they have pictures or videos the spokesperson for the Prosecution said “if we had a video of the act or a picture with the accused on camera, then we wouldn’t need to make the appeal” - quite specific - and imo indicates they have a picture or video of MM deceased without CB on frame.
• They’ve yet to find the caller

Factoring in all that’s above, why haven’t charged!!? It’s not always simple to convict.

• a picture of a deceased MM amongst 20000 other pictures or videos of child assault - a defence may argue “you can’t prove he wasn’t just sent that or downloaded that, like he had with thousands of other images”
• CB at the scene - “you can’t prove it was actually him holding his phone” & “the witnesses are biased because of the media coverage or high profile nature of the crime” (this argument worked in the previous court case)
• The type of evidence they have being successfully made inadmissible (by the defence). Example - if a USB is chalked off the evidence file, it collapses the case.
• Losing the previous trial, therefore making it impossible to use those convictions as part of the case against MM. Anything made inadmissible in that trial could be the same in the next one.
• Keeps him out of preventative attention, meaning they can’t work him from the inside - e.g better prison deal

Currently - imo they can’t charge
• lost previous trial - lowers confidence in success + admissibility risk.
• with current evidence, they won’t be able to charge unless they win their appeal & secure convictions in a retrial.
• if they lose appeal, they’ll need forensic evidence to make charges.

If the Germans don’t move forward the UK may make a move. There appears to be a difference between SY believing there could be a route to extraditing & what AI has to say about it…

My simple theory
He went in the rob the apartment, the motive changed inside 5a. He took Madeleine, carried her to where he’d parked his Jaguar (to the south-west of PDL). The crime was over within a couple of hours.
There’ll be 2 areas where forensic evidence is, or once was. 1 area for remains & the other for clothing & any tools used. IMO 1 of those areas is the Arade Dam, the other area is closer to PDL, likely within a few miles & no further away than Boca do Rio.

IMO with cases/crimes that highly publicised, unsolved & with investigations that are ongoing, concrete details that are publicly known would be about 1% of the story. I think the BKA knows about 70% of the story. But knowing & having it ironclad enough for court are 2 different things.

I think the evidence they have that MM is dead is irrefutable. They just don’t have a solid enough case to convict CB for the murder that their evidence shows. For the reasons listed.

My opinion. Be good to hear other thoughts.

So, CB left Luz several months after Madeleine disappeared, we all know this, however for those who can't keep up........he is reported to have travelled to Sylt North Germany.......off top of mi head, 40 hours of driving.

It is reported in 2008 that he was in Orgiva Spain which is approx 30 hour drive from Sylt. No idea how long from Hanover. That is a a long drive simply to visit a music fest, so I have to wonder why he did so much travel.

Just read now that he actually returned to the Algarve in 2008 but it didn't give any specifics of which area of the Algarve.

Other children missing 2008 Amy Fitzpatrick from Mijas Spain. Actually I won't add any more names but there are other children who have disappeared in Europe, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal.......

Has anyone else ever considered that CB could be responsible for other missing children?

In the first episode one of the journalists quipped that Kate and Gerry got a “desperate hour of sleep at about 4am”.

Maybe it’s just me, but that sounds ridiculously early if you discovered your daughter was missing and believed she had been abducted at 9-10pm?

The amount of adrenaline running through your body if that was really the case would keep me awake until 4am the next morning!

Just watched the film/TV drama anyone else seen it if so what were your thoughts? Edited twice.

One thing that stood out was Kate's solicitor telling her to say "No comment" which under those circumstances was understandable. I have read many times how the public have decided that her refusal to answer some of the questions was a sign of guilt, there has been massive controversy over it.

The other thing I noted was the difference between how Portuguese children are raised (via the film) compared to some English children. I myself did reward charts for my kids when they were young, it was also important that they had a structured routine. On holidays we have always taken them out to eat with us as a family, but the evenings started early and finished early, the film highlighted that Portuguese don't think 11pm is a late night for a family meal out, however I can't think that this is a regular occurrence, surely it is important that their children have a night time routine?

I also noted that the PJ had been warned not to use the evidence regarding the dogs against the McCanns because it wasn't conclusive, yet they did that anyway.

Madeleine's parents are fully aware that they made a irreversible error when leaving their children in apt.5A with the door unlocked, I am sure that they live with that every day of their lives.

Kate and Gerry are reported as being disappointed with the film and have suggested the "negative impact" it will have on their lives. I have never been in their position and so I can't imagine how severe or even how the film will negatively impact them. I find that I understand her situation much better now, I almost cried at the end.

It was on channel 5 here in the UK if anyone hasn't seen it.

What are your thoughts?

I really hope we do

In late summer 2007 I found a really cheap holiday in PDL, at this stage I was not aware of Madeleine's disappearance, booked the holiday.

Once I learned of the disappearance I felt scared, we were taking our two daughters, the youngest the same age as Madeleine. We stayed in a villa at the back of Luz, I was actually terrified and placed suitcases in front of the patio doors in the room our daughters slept in. As it was we had to move from the villa to a much smaller place right at the front of the resort just up from the seafront bar.

One day an odd man walked in a really confident manner down the street, he was oddly dressed, he wore all black, his trousers were a light cotton breeches style, his shirt had a grandad style neckline. He had black hair and looked slightly scruffy, he wore sandals. I will guess that he was in his 50's.

He sat down in the bar, had a drink and smoked a roll up then went to the beach and walked towards the black rock. He wasn't like any other person in Luz. I had the worst gut feeling. I slept downstairs with my daughters the rest of that holiday.

The next day, same again, On the beach were piles of stones, displayed with a larger rock and then built up with smaller rocks. I asked one of the waiters about him and was told that he turned up shortly after Madeleine had disappeared and that he was looking for her. He always walked towards the rock and over what I now know is a path over the rock, he also left his stone piles at the bottom of the rock.

He wasn't carrying anything on any of the occasions that I saw him which was most days. The waiter said that after the summer of 2007 he disappeared and had returned in 2008 in about late April. He was considered odd by the people working the bar and that he always disappeared the same way and didn't return for hours. My thought was that his search was very limited.

http://findmadeleine.com/campaigns/unidentified_people.html

The specific e-fit was released in 2009, it states at the site of the sketch The picture shows a man that was seen several times by different witnesses during the days leading up to Madeleine's abduction on the 3rd of May. He was described as ugly with pock-marked skin and was said to be watching the family's apartment intently.

I don't recall the man having a pocked face but the e fit is terrible, over exaggerated regarding the pocks. and as the sketch is in black and white, it shows the man's hair to be black and also suggests that his shirt was black. The collar in the sketch is the same as the collar that the man was wearing. I never got so close to him that I could see if he had pocked skin or not. His hair was very similar to that in the drawing, receding and boofed.

One morning the door bell went at the apartment, my husband answered, it was the same man and his reason for knocking was to ask if we wanted to buy any art work, only he had no artwork with him, I had not seen him approach anyone else in Luz. I was terrified.

In 2013 I think, there was a crime watch and a phone in, I phoned and gave a full account of the above and never heard anything back.

I am sure that the man in the e-fit was the same man.

I had a gut feeling that Madeleine may be over that rock but I am not sure if that was caused by the actions of the odd man.

The search in 2025 was done very close to the path that the odd man must have walked over.

I read a Kate McCann book recently where she mentions her dream in 2007 regarding her daughter being over the black rock which I hadn't been aware of. The book wasn't published until a later date.

I firmly believe that the man we saw is the same man as in the e-fit.

To add, he wore the same clothes day after day and looked as if he was sleeping rough.

Does anyone have any recall of anything similar reported in PDL 2007 or 2008?

The interview described in the media as an interrogation with Elke and Bernhard Piro, why do you think they implicated CB as being in apt. 5a?

Helge Busching's comments, do you think they were made up or are genuine?

Elke Piro publicly commented regarding the interviews with British police, also said that she would be a witness in the UK if required.

Does anyone know if there are official and factual reading grounds for the above?

Or is the fact it’s now been many years or CB being the prime suspect but without any rea developments very unusual of the German justIce system.