Convicted paedophile and rapist Christian Brückner, the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, has been acquitted of horrific sex offences by a controversial German judge.

Brückner, 47, is who German investigators believe killed Madeleine, then 3, after abducting her from her parent’s holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007.

However, he has never been charged in relation to Madeleine’s disappearance. 

Instead, he was on trial at Brunswick Regional Court for various non-related offences that took place in Portugal between December 2000 and June 2017. These include charges of rape and masturbating in front of children.

On Tuesday, Uta Inse Engemann, the presiding judge, said evidence against Brückner was “insufficient” and acquitted him of all charges.

The trial was a fiercely-contested battleground.

The courtroom saw angry verbal skirmishes over 35 days of proceedings between prosecutors and the defence, led by Friedrich Fülscher, along with shouted interruptions by Ms Engemann.