Christian B: Former cellmate said Madeleine McCann suspect ‘bragged about kidnapping in Portugal,’ German court hears | World News

The main suspect in the Madeleine McCann case bragged about kidnapping a young girl in Portugal, a German court has heard.

Christian B., whose last name cannot be published due to German data protection law, is suspected by German investigators of kidnapping and killing the then three-year-old Madeleine McCann from her parents’ holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007.

Christian B is is currently in court for a series of unrelated sexual offenses in Portugal, including three rapes and two cases of self-exposure and masturbation in front of children.

Romanian citizen Laurentiu Codin, 50, who shared a prison cell with Christian B in 2020, told the Braunschweig regional court on Tuesday a story reminiscent of the night Madeleine disappeared.

“He told me that he had stolen in Portugal … he was in an area with hotels, where there are people, I don’t know how to say, rich people, where rich people live,” he said.

“And when he was in the area of ​​the hotels where the rich people stay, there was an open window somewhere, he told me that, and that’s why he asked me if you could leave fingerprints when he came out of it Window went.”

“He said he went to the apartment for the money and didn’t find any money, but found a child and took him away, and that two hours later he was surrounded by police at the place where he was. “Dogs.

“And then he left the area, I’m just saying what he told me… and he took the child in his car to Portugal, and at the time when the police and the dogs were outside the house he drove away and he was gone, he asked me if a child’s DNA could be found as evidence and I answered “Yes.”

Codin also said in court that Christian B had told him how he used a van near Hanover to have sex with young girls.

The Romanian national said: “There was talk of a girl… he said that he had a bus and that he had taken her and the children, some of which he kept but others he didn’t, but he never said that he had killed her.

“He had sex with her… but he didn’t kill her… He had her and had done his business with her.”

The judge then asked how old the girl was, to which he replied: “I don’t want to say the wrong thing, but she was very small.”

“And I told him it wasn’t okay – what he had done. By small I mean young, nine, ten, 13, I don’t know.”

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Codin made several other allegations, including that Christian B had sex with an older woman whom he beat and strangled because that was his sexual preference.

He also said that Christian B asked him if a strand of his hair could be traced back to him and used as evidence and that he also said that he had to burn down a “big house”.

Outside court, the defendant’s lawyer, Philipp Marquart, refuted the statement and said: “All of these allegations are completely new. All. He’s never said anything like that before, and they all contradict each other.”

In court, Codin also claimed that Christian B asked him how much it would cost to get a fake passport so he could return to Portugal, saying: “I remember him asking that he had a passport and I also need a driver’s license.”

The presiding judge Ute Insa Engemann then asked: “And if I tell you that in 2020 in your witness statement there was talk of prices, a fake one cost 1,500 euros and an original cost 2,500 euros, and he said he needed it.” for Portugal, to go to Portugal.”

“Yes, yes, I remember. Yes, that’s what he said,” Codin replied.

It was previously reported that Codin heard that Christian B had bragged to him that he had committed rapes in Portugal and gotten away scot-free.

But in court, Codin refused to comment on the report, continually repeating that he “did not want to incriminate” the defendant.

After being pressed on the matter, he said, “We had a few drinks and walked, but that was it,” but refused to give details.

He tried twice to say he wasn’t ready to answer any questions. The judge reminded him that he was required by law to do so.

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In court, Christian B also saw a video clip showing scenes from the apartment in Portugal where Madeleine disappeared in 2007 on two large screens at the Braunschweig regional court.

The footage included interviews with Kate and Gerry McCann in which they described their horror when they discovered Madeleine was no longer in their bed on the night of May 3, 2007.

There was also a clip from Aktenzeichen

The videos and photos were taken at the request of Christian B’s lawyer, Dr. Friedrich Fulscher, who argued that it was important to understand that witnesses may have been incited by such media reports to misinterpret the defendant’s behavior as a sexual offense.

The video was played immediately after the reading of the Portuguese girl’s statement, who claimed that Christian B was in a playground, pulling down his pants and masturbating while shouting to her.

However, the prosecution refused to show the video in court, saying that they could not see the relevance of the video.

Codin’s testimony against Christian B comes because there are indications that the defendant could be acquitted.

The presiding judge Uta Inse Engemann, whom the public prosecutor’s office has already tried to obtain in favor of the defense because of alleged bias, has already declared that there is no longer “sufficient suspicion of guilt for all charges”. .