Christian B: Former cellmate said Madeleine McCann suspect ‘bragged about a Portugal abduction,’ German court hears
The prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case boasted he had abducted a young girl in Portugal, a German court has heard.
Christian B – whose surname cannot be published due to German privacy laws – is suspected by German investigators of having abducted and killed then-three-year-old Madeleine McCann from her parent’s holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007.
Christian B is currently on trial for a range of non-related sex offences committed in Portugal, including three rapes and two cases of exposing himself and masturbating in front of children.
Speaking at Braunschweig Regional Court on Tuesday, Romanian national Laurentiu Codin, 50, who shared a prison cell with Christian B in 2020, told a story which resembled the night when Madeleine disappeared.
“He told me that in Portugal, that he had stolen there… he was in a region of hotels where people are there, not sure how you say, rich people, where rich people live,” he said.
“And when he was in the area of the hotels where the rich people live, there was somewhere an open window, he told me this, and this was the reason he asked me whether fingerprints could be left when he went out of the window.
“He said he went into the flat because of money and said that he didn’t find any money, but found a kid, and took the child, and that two hours later, the place he was, it was then surrounded by police and dogs.
“And he then went away, out of the area, I am just saying what he told me… and he took the child in Portugal in his car, and in the time when the police and dogs were there at the house, he drove away, and he was gone, he asked me if the DNA from a child can be found as evidence and I answered yes.”
Madeleine McCann was last seen at her parent’s holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007. Pic: AP
In court, Codin also said Christian B had told him how he had used a van to have sex with young girls near Hanover.
The Romanian national said: “There was the talk of a girl… he said that he had a bus and that he had taken her with it, and the kids, he kept some of them, but not others, but he never said that he had killed them.
“He had sex with her… but he didn’t kill her… He had her, and had done her business with her.”
The judge then asked how old the girl was, to which he replied: “I don’t want to say anything wrong, but she was very small.
“And I told him that it was out of order – what he had done. With small, I mean young, nine, 10, 13, I don’t know.”
Read more:
Prosecutors’ ‘tough battle’ to charge McCann suspect
Prime suspect could be freed from jail in months
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Codin went on to make several other claims, including that Christian B had sex with an elderly woman who he had hit and strangled, as this was his sexual preference.
He also said that Christian B had asked him whether a strand of hair was something that could be traced back to him and used as evidence, and that he had also said he needed a “large house” burning down.
Speaking outside of court, the defendant’s lawyer Philipp Marquart refuted the testimony and said: “All of these claims are completely new. All of them. He has never said anything like this before, and they all contradict each other.”
Laurentiu Codin told the court Christian B, pictured, said he ‘found a kid, and took the child’ during a hotel invasion. Pic: Reuters
In court, Codin also claimed that Christian B had asked him how much it would cost to get a fraudulent passport so he could get back into Portugal, saying: “I can remember that he asked, that he needed a passport and also a driver’s licence.”
Presiding judge Ute Insa Engemann then asked: “And if I put it to you that in 2020, in your witness statement, there was talk about prices, a falsified one costs 1,500 euros and an original costing 2,500 euros, and he said he needed it for Portugal, to go to Portugal.”
“Yes, yes I remember. Yes, he said that,” Codin replied.
It has previously been reported that Codin is supposed to have heard that Christian B had boasted to him that he had committed rapes in Portugal and got away with it.
But in court, Codin refused to be drawn concerning the report, constantly repeating that he “did not want to incriminate” the defendant.
After being pushed on the matter, he said: “We had a few drinks and we walked but that is it” but refused to give any details.
He tried twice to say that he was not prepared to answer any questions. The judge reminded him he was under a legal obligation to do so.
Read more on Sky News:
Prisoners freed under emergency release scheme by mistake
Starmer defends £20,000 donation to help son
Putin plots attacks ‘that could lead to ‘nuclear disaster’
Madeleine McCann was three years old when she disappeared. Pic: Handout/ PA
In court, Christian B also watched as a video clip was displayed on two large screens at Braunschweig Regional Court, showing the scenes of the apartment in Portugal where Madeleine disappeared in 2007.
The footage included interviews with Kate and Gerry McCann, as they described their horror on realizing that Madeleine was no longer in her bed on the night of 3 May 2007.
It also featured a clip from Aktenzeichen XY, the German equivalent of the UK’s Crimewatch television show, where the German Federal Criminal Police (BKA) launched a public appeal for info on Christian B, showing photos of his house and the cars he drove.
The videos and photos were shown at the request of Christian B’s lawyer, Dr Friedrich Fulscher, who argued it was important to understand that the witnesses may have been egged on by such media reports to misinterpret the defendant’s behaviour as a sex offence.
The video was played straight after the court read out the testimony of the Portuguese girl who claimed that Christian B had been in a playground, pulled down his trousers and masturbated while calling out to her.
However, the prosecution objected to the video being shown in court and said that they could not see the relevance of it.
Codin’s testimony against Christian B comes as there are indications the defendant could be acquitted.
The presiding judge, Uta Inse Engemann, who the prosecution has already tried to have removed on the basis that she is allegedly biased in favour of the defence, has already stated that there is no longer “sufficient suspicion of guilt for all of the charges”.
The fast-moving developments on Trump’s Ukraine peace deal are dominating the G20 summit in South Africa, as European leaders scramble to put together a counter-proposal to the US-Russia 28-point plan and reinsert Ukraine into these discussions.
European countries are now working up proposals to put to President Trump ahead of his deadline of Thursday to agree a deal.
Ukraine is in a tight spot. It cannot reject Washington outright – it relies on US military support to continue this war – but neither can it accept the terms of a deal that is acutely favourable to Russia, requiring Ukraine to give up territory not even occupied by Moscow and reducing its army.
Overnight, the UK government has reiterated its position that any deal must deliver a “just and lasting peace”.
Ukraine war latest: Kyiv to discuss ending war in talks in Switzerland
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Keir Starmer calls for growth plan at G20
The prime minister, who spoke with E3 allies President Macron of France, Chancellor Merz of Germany and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on the phone on Friday, is having more conversations today with key partners as they work out how to handle Trump and improve this deal for Ukraine.
One diplomatic source told me allies are being very careful not to criticise Trump or his approach for fear of exacerbating an already delicate situation.
Instead, the prime minister is directing his attacks at Russia.
Read more:
Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan in full
Analysis: We could all pay if Europe doesn’t guarantee Ukraine’s security
Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a plenary session on the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. Pic: Reuters
“There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians,” he said on Friday evening.
“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but its actions never live up to its words.”
Pic: AP
On the Trump plan, the prime minister said allies are meetin on Saturday “to discuss the current proposal on the table, and in support of Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations”.
Strengthening the plan really means that they want to rebalance it towards Ukraine’s position and make it tougher on Russia.
“Ukraine has been ready to negotiate for months, while Russia has stalled and continued its murderous rampage. That is why we must all work together with both the US and Ukraine, to secure a just and lasting peace once and for all,” said the prime minister.
“We will continue to coordinate closely with Washington and Kyiv to achieve that. However, we cannot simply wait for peace.
“We must strain every sinew to secure it. We must cut off Putin’s finance flows by ending our reliance on Russian gas. It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Pic: AP
Europeans hadn’t even seen this deal earlier in the week, in a sign that the US is cutting other allies out of negotiations – for now at least.
Starmer and other European leaders want to get to a position where Ukraine and Europe are at least at the table.
There is some discussion about whether European leaders such as Macron and Meloni might travel to Washington to speak to Trump early next week in order to persuade him of the European and Ukrainian perspective, as leaders did last August following the US-Russian summit in Alaska.
But Sky News understands there are no discussions about the PM travelling to Washington next week ahead of the budget.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024