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The suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has been cleared of a string of sex attacks in Portugal, unrelated to the missing British toddler.

Christian B, as he is known under privacy laws, had denied three rapes and the sex abuse of two young girls while he was living on the Algarve coast.

During a trial that began in February, chief prosecutor Ute Lindemann branded the German drifter a “sadistic psychopath” and urged the judge to jail him for 15 years.

She also said he was so dangerous – with previous convictions for rape, child sex abuse, theft and fraud – he should be held in preventive detention after serving his sentence.

But his own lawyer said he was put on trial for the sex crimes this year only because he was the suspect for the abduction of Madeleine, who vanished from her family’s rented holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007.

Undated handout file photo of Madeleine McCann who disappeared from a holiday flat in Portugal seventeen years ago. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, released a statement on the 17th anniversary of her disappearance, saying "the absence still aches". Earlier this week, it was confirmed that up to a further £192,000 has been granted by the Home Office for the Scotland Yard investigation into Madeleine's disappearance. Issue date: Friday May 3, 2024.
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Madeleine McCann vanished in Portugal in 2007. Pic: PA

In his closing speech this week, defence lawyer Friedrich Fulscher said: “This story will teach us what terrible consequences it can have when the investigating officers of the public prosecutor’s office lose the necessary emotional distance from a case, and this attitude is combined disastrously with amateur investigations by a police authority.”

He said Christian B should never have been charged with the sex crimes.

Addressing the prosecutor directly, he added: “Your decision (to prosecute) would have been different if the accused had not been Christian B, the man to whom you also want to attribute an offence which has attracted the attention of the world public and which lay like a fog over these proceedings.”

Christian B, who moved between his native Germany and Portugal from the 1990s until his arrest and deportation in 2017, has been the main suspect for Madeleine’s disappearance for at least seven years.

Hans Christian Wolters, the German prosecutor in charge of the Madeleine investigation, has said in the past that he believes Christian B abducted the three-year-old and that she is dead.

But the 47-year-old suspect, who is currently serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of an elderly American woman in Portugal, has not been charged over Madeleine and denies any involvement in her disappearance.

Read more:
Madeleine suspect’s lawyer accuses ‘biased prosecutors’
Christian B ‘boasted of Portugal abduction’

The current trial in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, has been held on intermittent days over the past eight months.

The main charge against Christian B was the rape of Irish holiday worker Hazel Behan in her room in the resort of Praia da Rocha in 2005. She has waived her right to anonymity.

Ms Behan was raped several times and whipped by a masked intruder brandishing a knife, in a prolonged ordeal that bore similar horrific hallmarks to the rape for which Christian B is in jail now, said the prosecutor.

But his lawyer said Ms Behan’s description of her attacker did not match Christian B’s, particularly a cross-like mark she said she saw on his right thigh, which he says he does not have.

Ms Behan’s belief that Christian B was her attacker may have sprung from the influence of media reports about his rape conviction, said Mr Fulscher.

He accused two main prosecution witnesses, former friends Helge Busching and Manfred Seyferth, of lying about video tapes they claimed to have seen allegedly showing Christian B raping an elderly woman and a girl of about 14 in his rented home in Portugal. The video tapes didn’t exist, he said.

Christian B was also charged with grabbing the wrist of a 10-year-old girl and exposing himself to her on an Algarve beach and masturbating in front of another young girl during a festival in a hillside village above the coast.

The five sex crimes were said to have been committed between 2000 and 2017.

With this trial over, the Braunschweig prosecutor’s office will be under pressure to refocus on its Madeleine investigation and decide whether to charge Christian B over her disappearance.

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IT issue affects flights at Edinburgh Airport

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IT issue affects flights at Edinburgh Airport

All flights were halted at Edinburgh Airport this morning due to an IT issue affecting its air traffic control provider.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the airport later announced service had resumed.

Its post read: “Flights have now resumed following the IT issue with our air traffic provider.

“We thank passengers for their patience and understanding.”

But passengers continue to feel the effects.

A Delta Air Lines flight from New York to Edinburgh was diverted to Dublin after going into a holding pattern over the Scottish capital.

And a live arrivals board on the airport’s website showed multiple flights diverted, delayed and cancelled.

Arrivals board at Edinburgh Airport. Pic: Edinburgh Airport
Image:
Arrivals board at Edinburgh Airport. Pic: Edinburgh Airport

Morven McCall and Cody Stevenson, both 19, were due to fly easyJet from Edinburgh to Amsterdam on their first trip away together.

Morven told Sky News: “We literally just got into the airport and as soon as we walked through the door there was an announcement that it had been cancelled.

“I was ill over the summer and had to cancel two holidays already, this was our first time going away together. We are just gutted and stressed.”

Follow live: Latest updates as flights halted

Arrivals at Edinburgh Airport. File pic: PA
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Arrivals at Edinburgh Airport. File pic: PA

One passenger was on a plane when they found out.

They said: “We boarded our flight and pushed back on time for an 8.45 (am) departure, then sat for a while before the pilot told us what was happening.

“He updated us a couple of times, cabin crew are brilliant at handing out water etc, and I’m surprised that everyone appears to be upbeat. But then you do wonder how long for, just been told we’re hoping to be in the air in 20 minutes.”

Another passenger told us: “The first news was from the airport announcement as we were halfway through boarding, saying the airfield was closed due to air traffic control down.

“No one knew what was going on. We’d already been delayed a bit before boarding, with no reason. I suspect problems started about 9am.”

It comes after an earlier announcement that all flights had been halted.

“No flights are currently operating from Edinburgh Airport,” the previous statement said.

“Teams are working on the issue and will resolve as soon as possible.”

There was no timeframe for recovery initially, Sky News learned.

It’s understood by PA that the issue was not linked to today’s Cloudflare outage.

Edinburgh Trams also posted on X, writing: “If you’re travelling with us to @EDI_Airport this morning, please be aware that flights are not currently operating.”

The airport urged passengers to contact their airline for the latest information on flights.

An average of 43,000 passengers per day use the airport, which is served by 37 airlines flying to 155 destinations.

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Teenager fatally hit by car on motorway had been tasered by police, watchdog says

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Teenager fatally hit by car on motorway had been tasered by police, watchdog says

The police watchdog says it is investigating after a teenager who was tasered by an officer on a motorway was fatally hit by a car.

Logan Smith, 18, was being taken to hospital in an ambulance at about 11pm on Sunday when the vehicle stopped on the hard shoulder of the M5 in Somerset.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the vehicle stopped on the northbound carriageway “due to the concerns of ambulance staff”.

Mr Smith got out of the ambulance near the junction for Weston-super-Mare and “entered the live lanes of the motorway”, the watchdog added.

Police were called and an officer arrived at the scene, with bodycam footage showing the officer discharging their Taser, causing the teenager to fall to the ground.

“Soon afterwards” Mr Smith was struck by a car travelling on the southbound carriageway, the IOPC said.

The watchdog said it was investigating the “actions and decisions taken by Avon and Somerset Police prior to the death of a teenager”.

IOPC Director Derrick Campbell said: “My thoughts and sympathies are with Logan’s family and friends and everyone affected by this shocking and tragic incident. 

“We want to reassure everyone that we will independently investigate all the circumstances surrounding this incident, including the use of a Taser.

“After being notified by the force, we sent our investigators to the police post incident procedure to begin gathering evidence.

“We have taken initial accounts from the officer and ambulance staff involved.

“We met with Logan’s family on Tuesday, to give our condolences, explain our role and to provide some further detail about our investigation, including a Taser being discharged during the incident.

“We will continue to keep them updated and they request that their privacy be respected at such a difficult time.”

The coroner has been informed and formal identification and a post-mortem have taken place.

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Former doctor charged over alleged sexual assaults on 38 patients

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Former doctor charged over alleged sexual assaults on 38 patients

A former doctor has been charged over alleged sexual assaults on 38 patients in his care.

Nathaniel Spencer, 38, has been charged with 15 counts of sexual assault, 17 counts of assault by penetration, nine counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, three counts of assault a child under 13 by penetration and one count of attempted assault by penetration.

It follows a police investigation into alleged sexual offences between 2017 and 2021.

Staffordshire Police said in a statement the charges come after a complex investigation by the Public Protection Unit into sexual offences at the Royal Stoke University Hospital, in Stoke-on-Trent, and Russells Hall Hospital, in Dudley.

North Staffordshire Justice Centre
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North Staffordshire Justice Centre

Ben Samples, deputy chief crown prosecutor for the West Midlands CPS Complex Casework Unit and Serious Violence, Organised Crime and Exploitation Unit, said: “We have decided to prosecute Nathaniel Spencer for a number of serious sexual offences allegedly carried out against patients while he was working as a doctor – including assault by penetration and sexual assault against a child.

“Our prosecutors have worked at length to support a detailed and complex investigation by Staffordshire Police, carefully reviewing the available evidence to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings.”

Spencer, from Birmingham, will appear at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on 20 January 2026.

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