As of: January 27, 2024, 4:48 p.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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Even many years after the disappearance, the missing Maddie's parents don't give up.
© John Stillwell/dpa
Helge B. is the main witness in the missing Maddie case.
He was recently confronted with accusations of making false statements.
The public prosecutor's office now drew a conclusion.
Braunschweig - The then three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday resort in the Portuguese Algarve in May 2007.
The missing person case remains unsolved to this day, but a 46-year-old German has been the focus of the investigation for years.
One of the most important witnesses in the case is 52-year-old Helge B., who first led the police on the trail of today's main suspect years ago.
But the main witness recently got a report because of an alleged false statement - now the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office has made a decision about it.
Maddie McCann case: Braunschweig public prosecutor makes decision on the statement of the main witness
The main witness was a former companion of today's main suspect Christian B. In 2018, Helge B. provided the police with a crucial tip.
The 52-year-old stated that he and another witness had stolen a camera and videotapes that showed footage of Christian B. raping several women.
Only then did an investigation begin against today's main suspect, Christian B. Helge B. initially stated that he had left the video cassettes in his caravan when he left Portugal.
But when the police interviewed the main witness again in 2023, he said that the cassettes may have remained in a finca where he was living in Portugal at the time.
Christian B.'s lawyer apparently sensed his chance and then reported the witness for making false statements.
But as
Bild
reported on Saturday (January 27), the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office has now come to the conclusion that there is no evidence that Helge B. made a false statement.
Accordingly, the witness never claimed to know exactly where the video cassettes were.
According to the public prosecutor's statement, it was just speculation on his part.
He also wanted to use the new statement to help find the recordings.
Helge B. also mentioned the cassettes to witnesses in 2006 - at a time when Christian B. had not yet gone to the police about Christian B., the
Bild
report continues.
Christian B. is already serving a prison sentence of several years: new negotiations against him start on February 16th
In October 2022, the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office brought charges against Christian B.
The German is accused of several alleged sexual offenses that he is said to have committed between 2000 and 2017.
B. is currently serving a prison sentence of several years for a rape that also occurred in Portugal in 2005.
In April, the Braunschweig regional court initially announced that it was “not responsible” for the new charges against the suspect.
But then the turning point came: the Braunschweig regional court allowed charges of rape and abuse against the German, who was also a suspect in the Maddie case.
The prosecutors in Braunschweig and the regional court there are therefore responsible because Christian B. had his last German residence in the Lower Saxony city before his stays abroad.
The start of the trial against the then 47-year-old is scheduled for February 16th.
He is charged with three counts of aggravated rape and two counts of child sexual abuse, which are not related to the Maddie case.
The court said it would only be clarified in the main proceedings whether the allegations were true or not.
Any person accused of a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty by law.
So far, 29 appointments are planned until the end of June.
Meanwhile, in May 2023, a new search operation drew attention again to the missing person case of Maddie McCann
(bme with dpa).