A message on the answering machine changed the course of the investigation

Madeleine McCann's case is one of the most mysterious in recent times. A three-year-old girl suddenly disappeared from the hotel where she was sleeping in 2007 in Praia da Luz, in the south of Portugal, while her parents were eating at a restaurant in the same complex. In this regard, detective Mark Draycott, who was involved in the search, appeared in the Braunschweig court hearing this case on Thursday, May 2, to testify in this regard. What changed the course of the search was an answering machine message from a former friend of the alleged perpetrator of the crime, Christian Bruckner, who is currently on trial.

By: Nation

Madeleine's disappearance is one of the world's most shocking unsolved mysteries. It all happened on May 3, 2007, when Kate and Gerry McCann's family was vacationing in Praia da Luz when a sleeping girl disappeared without a trace. During that time, Scotland Yard detectives and German police followed up on the few leads there that, over the years, pointed to who was the main suspect in her abduction today: Christian Bruckner.

“He said he had information.”

Today, 17 years after his disappearance, the Braunschweig court hears the case and replaces Christian Bruckner as the judge these days, albeit from an earlier case. The first of the police officers called to testify was Detective Mark Draycott, who devoted himself to investigating the case in a search known as Operation Grange that began in 2011 and answered questions about Madeleine's disappearance.

In his statement, he has given an important detail in the investigation. According to him, Bruckner's former friend Helge Busching, who visited him in the Algarve (the holiday resort where the family stayed) in the 2000s, contacted the British police in 2017.

“Back then we had a public phone number that was advertised all over the world. Members of the public can call Operation Grange to report the investigation into Madeleine McCann. One of my jobs is to check answering machine messages. On May 18, I checked the answering machine and there was a message,” introduced the detective.

He later added: “He left a Greek cell phone number saying he had information. I called this number and spoke to someone I knew, Helge Lars Busching. “He referred to himself as 'Lars' and gave me information about Madeleine.” Surprisingly, in a statement that later went viral in the media, Burshing said that Bruckner made it clear to him, without further details, that “she didn't scream.”

The detective said they spoke two days before he released his statement. “He was happy to give a statement to the British police while the investigation continued. “He said he had a conversation with Christian at the Orgiva festival in 2008. “That conversation was about Operation Grange,” he continued.

You can read the full note here Nation