Madeleine McCann suspect charged with sex offences in Portugal
A German man who is a suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has been charged with five sex offences in Portugal over a 17-year period, German prosecutors have said.
Convicted sex offender Christian B is accused of three counts of rape and two counts of child sexual abuse between 2000 and 2017 in Portugal, according to Braunschweig public prosecutor's office in northern Germany.
The 45-year-old has been charged with the alleged rape of a woman in her 70s in her holiday apartment between 2000 and 2006 and the alleged rape of a 20-year-old Irish woman in Praia da Rocha in 2004.
He is also accused of raping a teenage girl in her home in Praia da Luz between 2000 and 2006.
It is claimed that the sex offender, who is currently serving a seven-year sentence for rape in Portugal in 2005, filmed the incidents.
He also allegedly exposed himself to a 10-year-old German girl in Faro in 2007 and to a 11-year old Portuguese girl in Bartolomeu de Messines in 2017.
Tuesday's charges do not relate to the McCann case, prosecutors said.
The sex offender, who has reportedly denied any involvement in the case, was identified as a suspect in the McCann case by Portuguese officials in June 2020.
The investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance is continuing irrespective of the charges brought, the prosecutor’s office said.
Madeleine, from Leicestershire, disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, during a family holiday on 3 May 2007.