Maddie McCann cop reveals moment he took call that blew case wide open (2024)

A MET cop today told a court of the extraordinary breakthrough moment he took the call-in that "solved" the Madeleine McCann mystery.

DC Mark Draycott told judges in Germany he listened to a bombshell voicemail on May 18, 2017 from a drifter naming monster Christian Brueckner as the man who snatched the toddler.

The cop said: "There was still a public phone number so members of the public could ring in with information in relation to Operation Grange - the Madeleine McCann investigation.

"One of my jobs was to check the answerphone on a daily basis.

"I checked and there was a message from a male, from the sounds of his voice."

The cop added: "He said he had information and he left a Greek mobile number.

"I rang the number and spoke to a man I now know to be Helge Busching.

"He gave information in relation to the Madeleine McCann investigation."

The Scotland Yard cop told how he travelled to Greece to interview the key witness - before later bringing him to the UK to make a formal statement.

Witness Busching has told previously how during a conversation about Maddie, Brueckner let slip: "She didn’t scream."

But asked to reveal what evidence cops were given that the rapist snatched and killed Madeleine, the British cop refused to answer.

He said: "I can’t talk about it. I have no approval to talk about it."

The refusal came after Brueckner’s defence team called the witness to court in the hope he would discredit witnesses and reveal crucial details about the ongoing Maddie investigation.

DC Draycott told the court Maddie suspect Brueckner raped an elderly "British" woman on camera - then beat her with a kitchen spatula, while blindfolded with painted goggles.

The officer told Braunschweig Regional Court that Busching was released from prison in Greece on April 12, 2018 and then contacted police on May 18 - five weeks later.

DC Draycott also confirmed to the court key witness Busching had received no payment, plea bargain or incentive to give his Maddie statement.

He said: "In my first conversation with Helge Busching, he said he wasn’t interested in a reward."

The detective has worked on the Met's £13million Maddie investigation Operation Grange since it was launched on a request from David Cameron in 2011.

He told the court today he flew to Athens in August 2017, when Busching made his investigation-changing claims.

The cop said: "This was an intelligence-gathering exercise.

"This was the early stage of a live inquiry - with other interested parties, namely the Portuguese police and BKA."

DC Draycott added: "It was senior officers who took the decision that a statement was needed.

"My job was to speak to him and ask him for the statement."

Busching had called McCann PI Dave Edgar’s information line following a public appeal in 2009 - just two years after the tot vanished - but was not contacted, the court heard.

DC Draycott said Busching left his Spanish mobile number but "thought he was not being taken seriously".

A retired cop later issued an appeal for information relating to the "spotty man" - but it was unclear whether this referred to pock-faced Brueckner.

It was not until 2017 that Busching’s claims were taken seriously when he called a Met police hotline, naming Brueckner as the suspected snatcher.

Busching is now considered the man who can pin Maddie’s abduction on convicted rapist and paedophile Brueckner.

Brueckner is accused of a string of rapes and indecent exposure allegations uncovered during the investigation into Maddie.

He denies the claims against him and the trial continues.

Brit tot Madeleine McCann vanished from her family's Portuguese holiday home in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, on May 3, 2007 as her parents dined at a tapas bar just 120 metres away.

Gerry and Kate had left their three children, including Maddie and toddler twins Sean and Amelie, asleep in the apartment.

Kate returned to check on the kids about 10pm and discovered Maddie was not in her bed, but missing.

Seventeen years on, her whereabouts remains unknown - despite a £13million police investigation.

Maddie would be turning 21 this month.

The prime suspect in the case is 47-year-old German national and convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner.

He is currently serving a prison sentence for raping a woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, and is suspected of further rapes and child sexual abuse committed in the area between 2000 and 2017.

Last month, it was confirmed by a German court that DC Draycott would be called to give evidence in defence of Brueckner.

He was to be brought to Germany as part of a defence bid to pick holes in Busching's witness testimony.

The move was designed to help clear rapist Brueckner of current charges, and to discredit Busching ahead of a Maddie trial next year.

Busching claims he saw two rape videos after taking them from Brueckner's Praia da Luz lair - offences currently being tried.

He was the first person to name Brueckner to police.

The witness' Maddie evidence is centred on allegations Brueckner told him "she didn't scream" while discussing the tot in 2008.

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Busching, who committed crimes with the convicted rapist in Portugal in the early 2000s, has called the prime snatch suspect "really dangerous".

He recently said not reporting Brueckner sooner was the "biggest failure" of his life.