BERLIN (AP) — An arrest warrant for a man who is also a suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann was lifted Wednesday by a German court in an ongoing trial over several unrelated sexual offenses he is alleged to have committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
However, the 47-year-old German, who has been identified by media as Christian Bruckner, will remain jailed because he is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for a rape he committed in Portugal in 2005.
The Braunschweig state court said it lifted the arrest warrant in the current case — in which Bruckner has been accused of three counts of rape and two of sexual abuse of children — because there is no urgent suspicion, German news agency dpa reported.
The suspect hasn’t been charged in the Madeleine McCann case, in which he is under investigation on suspicion of murder. He spent many years in Portugal, including in the resort of Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance there in 2007. He has denied any involvement in her disappearance.
In the current trial, prosecutors had claimed that, at an unspecified time between 2000 and 2006, the suspect allegedly tied up and raped an elderly woman in her vacation apartment in Portugal. He allegedly beat the victim several times with a whip and recorded the incident on video.
During the same time period, he is alleged to have tied a German-speaking girl aged at least 14 to a wooden post in the living room of his residence in Praia da Luz, allegedly beating her with a whip and forcing her to perform oral sex.
However, Bruckner's attorneys filed a motion during the trial to quash the arrest warrant because they no longer saw any reason for one after evidence in the alleged crimes had been taken in court. The court ruled that there was no “strong suspicion” with regard to all charges, dpa reported.
A verdict in the ongoing trial is expected in the fall.
The case of Madeleine McCann stirred worldwide interest for several years, with reports of sightings of her stretching as far away as Australia, along with a slew of books and television documentaries about the case.
FILE - Christian B. arrives at the start of his trial, at Braunschweig district court, in Brunswick, Germany, on Feb. 16, 2024. An arrest warrant against a man who is also a suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann has been lifted by a German court in an ongoing trial over several unrelated sexual offenses he is alleged to have committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. However, the 47-year-old German, who has been identified by media as Christian Bruckner, will remain jailed because he is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for a rape he committed in Portugal in 2005. (Julian Stratenschulte/dpa via AP)
LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Keir Starmer held his first Cabinet meeting Saturday as his new government takes on the massive challenge of fixing a heap of domestic woes and winning over a public weary from years of austerity, political chaos and a battered economy.
Starmer welcomed the new ministers around the table at 10 Downing St., saying it had been the honor of his life to be asked by King Charles III to form a government in a ceremony that officially elevated him to prime minister.
“We have a huge amount of work to do, so now we get on with our work,” he said.
Starmer’s Labour Party delivered the biggest blow to the Conservatives in their two-century history Friday in a landslide victory on a platform of change.
Among a raft of problems they face are boosting a sluggish economy, fixing a broken health care system, and restoring trust in government.
“Just because Labour won a big landslide doesn’t mean all the problems that the Conservative government has faced has gone away,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.
In his first remarks as prime minister Friday after the meeting “kissing of hands” ceremony with Charles at Buckingham Palace, Starmer said he would get to work immediately, though he cautioned it would take some time to show results.,
“Changing a country is not like flicking a switch,” he said as enthusiastic supporters cheered him outside his new official residence at 10 Downing. “This will take a while. But have no doubt that the work of change begins — immediately.”
He will have a busy schedule following the six-week campaign crossing the four nations of the U.K.
He will travel to Washington next week for a NATO meeting and will host the European Political Community summit July 18, the day after the state opening of Parliament and the King's Speech, which sets out the new government's agenda.
Starmer singled out several of the big items Friday, such as fixing the revered but hobbled National Health Service and securing its borders, a reference a larger global problem across Europe and the U.S. of absorbing an influx of migrants fleeing war, poverty as well as drought, heat waves and floods attributed to climate change.
Conservatives struggled to contain the flow of migrants arriving across the English Channel, failing to live up to ex-Prime Minister’s Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats.”
Starmer has said he will scrap the Conservatives controversial plan to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda. The plan had cost hundreds of millions of pounds (dollars) without a single flight taking off.
“Labour is going to need to find a solution to the small boats coming across the channel,” Bale said. “It’s going to ditch the Rwanda scheme, but it’s going to have to come up with other solutions to deal with that particular problem.”
Suella Braverman, a Conservative hard liner on immigration who is a possible contender to replace Sunak as party leader, criticized Starmer's plan to end the Rwanda pact.
“Years of hard work, acts of Parliament, millions of pounds been spent on a scheme which had it been delivered properly would have worked," she said Saturday. "There are big problems on the horizon which will be I’m afraid caused by Keir Starmer.”
Starmer's Cabinet is also getting to work.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy was to begin his first international trip Saturday to meet counterparts in Germany, Poland and Sweden to reinforce the importance of their relationship.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he would open new negotiations next week with NHS doctors at the start of their career who have staged a series of multi-day strikes. The pay dispute has exacerbated the long wait for appointments that have become a hallmark of the NHS's problems.
FILE - Labour Party leader Keir Starmer smiles as he speaks to his supporters at the Tate Modern in London, Friday, July 5, 2024. After a few hours of sleep to shake off a night of celebration and an audience with the king, Keir Starmer will step through the front door of 10 Downing St. for the first time as prime minister on Friday. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer outside 10 Downing Street in London, Friday, July 5, 2024 after returning from seeing King Charles III where he was asked to form a government. Starmer's Labour Party swept to power Friday after more than a decade in opposition, as a jaded electorate handed the party a landslide victory — but also a mammoth task of reinvigorating a stagnant economy and dispirited nation. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
