MADELEINE McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner allegedly ordered his girlfriend in a note from prison to cover his tracks by clearing out his flat, a court has heard.
Brueckner is said to have been afraid of police finding “stuff”
The prime suspect, however, is believed to have been seeing a second woman around the time Maddie vanished, a court has also heard.
Brueckner’s former lover, Marina Flache, claimed they split by March 2007, yet judges in Germany heard the pair were pictured in May that year – the same month Maddie disappeared.
It means Brueckner was romantically connected with two women around the time of the McCann abduction – including one accused of providing him with young girls.
The court heard Bruckner wrote Ms Flache a note from prison in 2006 – when they were an item – asking for help covering his tracks from “stupid cops”.
Brueckner is said to have written: “Get rid of all traces from this flat asap, it won’t take too long.
“I am still afraid that the police can find more about it, and the more they accuse me of, the longer I will sit here.”
The note continued: “I can only laugh about the stupid police, but if the stuff is not removed from my house asap then they will be laughing about me.”
Braunschweig Regional Court heard Ms Flacher, now 64, approached the German FBI herself and handed them the note.
And throughout the trial she has been named by other witnesses as the former lover who cleared his house.
But she stunned a court in Germany on Friday by appearing to contradict her own statement.
Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner cruelly laughed in court minutes after a sex crime victim was reduced to tears
Shown the note she gave to police in court, the travel agent said: “I have never seen this before.”
Instead she bizarrely defended Brueckner as a “normal painter”.
She said she was only ever asked to take painting equipment and pencils to prison for the paedophile so he could practise his art.
The witness added: “In prison he told me to get him painting stuff, pencils and so he could paint.”
She told the court she suspected his burglaries but added he was polite and “he worked in restaurants, and he painted.”
The court heard in the months before Maddie vanished how Brueckner had told her he had a girl staying with him – that he was trying to become a guardian of – to access government cash.
Judges have also been told there was a “video mafia” operating in Portugal at the time Maddie was snatched.
Ms Flache told the court she and Brueckner had split by March 2007.
But asked about a photo of them together on a beach in May 2007, she bizarrely replied: “Maybe the photo just has this date on it.”
Madeleine, three, disappeared from an apartment in Praia da Luz on Portugal’s Algarve coast while on holiday with parents Kate and Gerry, now both 55, of Rothley, Leicestershire.
German investigators believe Brueckner abducted and murdered her – although no charges have been filed against him.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that a court heard how Brueckner wooed an ex by bragging to her how he broke into Portugal apartments wearing tights and goggles.
Brueckner claimed the bizarre mask meant he could sneak into properties in Portugal’s Algarve resort around the time Maddie vanished.
Brueckner is on trial for a string of rapes and indecent exposure charges, uncovered during the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance. He denies the claims.
The trial continues.
