Christian Brueckner was investigated over the grisly murder of a young prostitute, the Daily Mail can reveal.
The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was under suspicion, but was never charged, by German detectives probing a 2010 killing in Hanover, police documents show.
In line with German privacy laws, the victim is not named in the paperwork, but that year the mutilated body of 24-year-old Monika Pawlak was found stuffed into two blue plastic bags in the Ihme river, four days after she was last seen alive.
Her head had been severed and her torso dismembered. Her personal items and some body parts were never found.
In line with German privacy laws, the victim is not named in the paperwork, but that year the mutilated body of 24-year-old Monika Pawlak (pictured) was found stuffed into two blue plastic bags in the Ihme river, four days after she was last seen alive
Miss Pawlak, who suffered from learning difficulties after a childhood accident and was described by police as ‘naive’, worked in a kitchen but also occasionally as a prostitute to fund her cocaine addiction.
She had celebrated New Year’s Eve 2009 with friends in her mother’s apartment in Linden, a district of Hanover. She then went for a drink at a pub nearby, saying goodbye to friends at just after 2am.
Her body was found on January 4 after the blue rubbish bags were spotted close to the Legion Bridge.
Police records show convicted drug dealer Brueckner (left), now 43, was, in the months after the murder, ‘listed in relation to the homicide of a prostitute’
Police records show convicted drug dealer Brueckner, now 43, was, in the months after the murder, ‘listed in relation to the homicide of a prostitute’.
Brueckner was not charged and the case remains unsolved, despite an extensive police investigation. A fresh appeal was launched in 2015 and a 30,000 euro (£27,000) reward offered for information that would help catch the killer.
During the appeal police released a profile they had put together of Miss Pawlak’s murderer.
Christian Brueckner is now the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann (pictured)
Christian Brueckner is currently in prison (pictured) in Kiel, northern Germany, for a drugs offence
Detectives said the bags used to hide her body came from a commercial wholesaler and were mainly used by cleaning companies.
They said the killer had links to the district of Hanover-Linden, lived alone – or at least lived alone at the time of the attack – and was involved in the drug scene or ‘tolerated drug use’.
Experts said he was likely to be pragmatic and mentally stable, had access to tools and was physically able to carry heavy loads.
They said he was also likely to have access to a workshop and regular contact with cats and dogs.
At the time of the killing, Brueckner was linked to an address in Linden close to a lake, the Maschsee.
Facebook photographs from 2011, the same year he was convicted of smuggling cannabis, show the tall, muscular former car mechanic at a bar in the district with a waitress and a dog.
People who knew him said he was often seen partying in bars, pubs and restaurants in the area and his nickname was The Screwdriver because he always smelled of oil and petrol.
He was often out with his two dogs – Charly, a rottweiler, and Ms Mueller, a dachshund cross.
At the time of the appeal, Rainer Noeltker, head of the murder inquiry, said investigations involving drug users were often difficult as witnesses frequently make contradictory or confused statements.
The case of Miss Pawlak was made harder because her mother and stepfather were unable to provide much information about her private life, he said.
‘They have no information about what she did in her free time, who she met. She was very naive. That is probably the best way to describe it.’
Police could not be reached for comment last night.