A German man seen as the top suspect in the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann is under investigation after an altercation with police officers in northern Germany, police say.

Christian Brueckner, named as a suspect in the McCann case but never charged, was involved in a “physical attack” on law enforcement officers in the city of Kiel on 6 June, a police spokeswoman told AFP.

The magazine Der Spiegel reported that Brueckner got into a tussle with police outside a supermarket after taking pH๏τos of the officers with his mobile phone.

The officers objected to being pH๏τographed and Bruecker refused their demand that he hand over his phone, according to Der Spiegel.

The Kiel police spokeswoman declined to provide details of the alleged incident to AFP, citing the ongoing investigation.

But she said: “An officer sustained injuries during the incident.”

Brueckner was also investigated by Kiel police over a brawl with another man in April.

Brueckner, 49, has multiple previous convictions for Sєxual offences as well as other crimes including theft, drug trafficking, ᴀssault and child abuse.

In September, he was released from prison in Germany after serving a sentence on rape charges.

Brueckner was acquitted by a court in Germany in late 2024 after being charged with rapes and two counts of child Sєx abuse over alleged crimes between 2000 and 2017 unrelated to the McCann disappearance.

He was named the top suspect in the McCann case by German prosecutors in 2020, who said they had “concrete evidence” against him but not enough to secure a conviction.

Three-year-old Madeleine, known as “Maddie”, vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal in May 2007 while her parents dined nearby.

The case attracted major global attention, particularly in the British press.

No trace of her has ever been found.

At the time, Brueckner was regularly spending time in that area of Portugal and a mobile phone registered to his name pinged near the McCanns’ accommodation on the evening of the girl’s disappearance.