Maddie McCann: Key witness speaks out on Ukraine’s progress against offensive – Zelensky wants to fortify border

The disappearance of Madeleine Maddie McCann from a holiday apartment in Portugal still stirs the world’s public. The then 3-year-old has now been missing for 16 years. While the detectives have been groping in the dark for years, the case has been moving in recent years.

The main suspect is now the German Christian B. He is suspected of being responsible for the girl’s disappearance. It is thanks to a tip from Helge B. that the detectives encountered him at all. Christian B. would have known him in 2008. For years, the whistleblower held back. Until now. Helge B. speaks in public for the first time – revealing terrifying details.

Helge B. initially had a positive image of Christian B.

Helge B.’s life was ruined by his statements, which led detectives to Christian B.’s trail. “I didn’t expect the dimensions it all took on,” said the 52-year-old in an interview with “Bild”.

He reports on the first meeting with Christian B.

When he met the suspected killer of little Maddie McCann through his friends Micah and Manni, his first impression was positive. The whistleblower was still a criminal himself at the time and heard about Christian B.’s abilities: “I had heard that he comes into hotels, is a good climber, goes in through the balconies. After that we saw each other more often. I never had the feeling that something was not right.”

Until Christian B. was briefly imprisoned. Helge B. spontaneously decided to go to the prisoner’s apartment with Manni because they wanted to let Diesel go with them. According to the later whistleblower, they found a video camera, films and a gun in the apartment that would have been open. They took the stuff.

Movies with gruesome scenes

Later, when he watched some movies, he made horrible discoveries. The footage showed what Helge B believed to be a 70 to 80-year-old woman tied to a bed and beaten. Later, the tormentor sat on her bed and took off the mask: it was Christian B. Then Helge B. found another recording with a presumably underage teenage girl tied naked to a beam. And Christian B?

Behind her, smiling.

“I knew then what kind of man he was,” the man told “Bild”. When the then criminal talked to his lawyer about it, he advised him to keep his hands off the case. A police officer in Germany also advised against it. As a result, he said he was afraid to incriminate himself. He sold the gun and the camera. He doesn’t know where the videos are today, he left them in his caravan in Portugal.

Helge B. reports on the alleged confession

The man also reports on the moment that Christian B. would have confessed to him. It was not until 2008 that he met the alleged perpetrator again, at a festival. Christian B. joined them. “It was difficult for me – I knew what he was doing, that that man is a fire hazard,” says Helge B. about this moment.

Then Christian B. asked him if he wanted to go to Portugal to do business there. He replied “No” on the grounds that there have been too many police checks since the girl (Editor’s note: Maddie McCann) disappeared there. Then he added that he still did not understand how the little one could disappear without a trace. “Christian had two or three beers and then said she wasn’t yelling.”

A moment when Helge B. “checked it right away”, also because of the video history.

“Then I got really sick. The others didn’t understand it at all,” he says in an interview. Moreover, he is sure: “But he also checked that I understood that and then ran away at night.” At 3 or 4 am Christian B. drove away from a busy festival in his mobile home. “I looked for him the next morning, his neighbors said he’s gone.”

The witness’s advice was apparently not taken seriously at first

He called Scotland Yard in 2008:

It was not until years later – in 2017 – that his advice was taken seriously, explains Helge B. He was in prison himself at the time when he learned about the 10-year anniversary of Maddie McCann’s disappearance: “Then I remembered: the call seemed to do nothing. So I contacted Scotland Yard again.”

Apparently with more success. First, he was allowed to meet two officials for an initial interview at a hotel in Athens. He later gave his testimony in London. A year later, he faced the current prime suspect in the Maddie case in court. His statement was the main clue that led investigators to Christian B.

Witness does not believe Maddie McCann is still alive

Helge B. has a suspicion why the alleged perpetrator kidnapped Maddie: “My theory is that he planned a burglary. That things went wrong and he found the kids in the apartment. And then he took Maddie. It was probably not planned at all.” But: In any case, he trusts that he has kidnapped the girl. “I don’t know if he ended up killing her.”

Helge B. has now publicly unpacked because there are too many lies about him against which he cannot defend himself. In addition, he had no peace of mind from reporters who had tracked him down.

As for the missing Maddie McCann, it is clear to him that she is already dead: “As sad as that may be – it would be better if her body were found. I’m afraid Christian B. will get away with it.”