Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner spotted in 'false beard' to hide identity

The prime suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance has been seen wearing a “false beard” in a bid to disguise his identity.

Christian Brueckner was spotted wearing the disguise while walking around in the German town where he has been living since being released from jail last week. He used it to cover his face as he begged for food at a pizza shop at around 9pm on Friday night, telling a worker he had just been released from jail and was too poor to pay.

They told the Mirror: “He was wearing a false beard, but was still recognisable. It was long and made of some kind of synthetic material. I don’t know exactly what material it was made of, but it wasn’t hair. It was brown-ish - a different colour to the hair on his head. It was obviously not his real .”

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The woman gestured with her hands that the beard was long to her chest and said Brueckner asked her: “Do you have any pizzas or scraps I can take for free - I’ve just been released from prison and I’m really hungry’. “It was a really odd thing to ask - we don’t just give away free pizzas. There was something really odd about him - he looked like a stray dog. She added: “We knew we recognised him, but we couldn’t quite work out who he was.Then it hit my colleague - it was the Maddie suspect. We gave him pay a free slice of pizza - but now we wish we hadn’t .”

The woman said Brueckner came into the shop again at around 5pm on Sunday, but was quickly ushered out by staff. She said: "This time he wasn't wearing the false beard."

In an exclusive interview with the Mirror earlier this year, Brueckner's lawyer Philipp Marquort told how Brueckner had discussed the possibility of wearing disguises. He said: Speaking about how Bruckner has spoken about changing his appearance, his lawyer previously told the Mirror: "We didn't talk in depth, but I once mentioned to him it would be nice for him to change his face or how he looks so that nobody can recognise him anymore.

"But right now he doesn't have any money to do that because that's will be or that will be very expensive. Right now he's just the guy who tries to get a fake moustache or sunglasses or a hat. But I think if I were him I would go sometimes in the future try to change how I look and get plastic surgery maybe."

Sources told the Mirror Brueckner's identity in his new town, which we are not naming, was blown when he walked into a shop at the main train station and women in there began screaming after recognising him.

He was living in a ramshackle farmhouse on the edge of Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished from the Ocean Club resort while her parents Kate and Gerry dined at a nearby tapas restaurant in 2007. He is now understood to be staying in a private flat, provided by the German state.

On Friday night, the Mirror revealed he had been moved into emergency accommodation in the city after he formally declared himself homeless. It is understood he was initially put in a homeless hostel before being moved to other accommodation just hours later amid fears for his safety.

Brueckner had been seen being driven out of Sehnde prison, near Hanover, on Wednesday before being photographed heading straight for a McDonald's – next to a stop that sells baby and toddler clothes.

As part of his release, he must wear an ankle tag for five years and faces recall to prison if he breaks any of his bail conditions, including moving house without telling probation staff.

Despite a lengthy police investigation, detectives appear to be no closer to charging him over Madeleine’s disappearance, which he denies any involvement in. He was also cleared last October of a string of sex crimes he was accused of carrying out in Portugal. But prosecutors are now awaiting the outcome of an appeal against those verdicts, lodged in Germany’s Federal Court of Justice.

And he has been ordered to appear in court next month in Oldenburg where he is charged with insulting a prison officer and could be ordered to pay a fine.