Brexit may prevent the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from being extradited to the UK to face trial, legal experts have warned, as German constitutional law now bars the surrender of its own citizens to non-EU countries.
Brexit’s Legal Hurdle
The Metropolitan Police have been pushing for German national Christian Brueckner to be tried in Britain for the alleged abduction and murder of the three-year-old, who vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on 3 May 2007. Brueckner, a convicted rapist first linked to the case in 2022, has vehemently denied any involvement. But the UK’s departure from the European Union has fundamentally altered the extradition landscape.
Before Brexit, the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) provided a streamlined, fast-track surrender process between member states. The European Commission described it as “a simplified cross-border judicial surrender procedure for the purpose of prosecuting or executing a custodial sentence or detention order”. Under the EAW, Germany would have been obliged to hand over its own citizens to the UK, and the process would have been “effectively automatic”, according to George Hepburne Scott, a specialist extradition barrister and head of extradition at Church Court Chambers.
Post-Brexit, the UK and EU operate under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which came into force on 1 January 2021 and introduced a new surrender mechanism. However, the TCA allows member states to impose a “nationality bar” on extraditing their own citizens. Germany is one of ten countries that have exercised this option under Article 83 of the agreement. “In Germany, this is a matter of constitutional law, not political discretion,” said Nick Vamos, former head of extradition at the Crown Prosecution Service and now a partner at Peters & Peters. “So there is no possibility of Brueckner being extradited to the UK unless he leaves his home country.”
German Constitutional Law: The Article 16 Barrier
The legal obstacle is rooted in Article 16 of the German Basic Law (the constitution), which fundamentally prohibits the extradition of German citizens to foreign countries. While exceptions exist for extradition to EU member states and international courts – provided the rule of law is observed – the UK is now classified as a “third country” outside the bloc. This means Germany is constitutionally barred from surrendering Brueckner to British authorities, regardless of any obligations under the TCA.
Lawyers and legal experts told The Independent that the likelihood of Brueckner being handed over is practically zero. “Because he is a German citizen, Germany is highly unlikely to extradite him to the UK,” said Mr Hepburne Scott. “Under the German Basic Law and the post-Brexit EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, Germany can refuse to surrender its own nationals, and in practice it does.”
Germany has a track record of refusing such requests. In September 2023, a German court declined to extradite an Albanian man accused of drug trafficking to the UK, citing concerns about overcrowding, staff shortages and violence in British prisons – described at the time as a “severe rebuke” of the prison system. In 2020, Germany made history by refusing an extradition arrest warrant for a Polish national accused of fraud due to concerns over the fairness of trial proceedings.
The constitutional imperative means that even if the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were to authorise charges and formally request extradition, the German authorities would be forced to refuse. “If there is sufficient evidence, the realistic route is for Germany to prosecute him domestically rather than hand him over,” said Mr Hepburne Scott. “Pre-Brexit, the extradition would have been streamlined, fast-tracked and effectively automatic – subject to routine procedural requirements.”
UK’s Options and the Path Forward
Given the constitutional barrier, the Metropolitan Police are now focused on alternative avenues. According to sources, the force is determined for Brueckner to face charges in Germany if the country refuses to surrender him. German law allows for the prosecution of its own nationals for crimes committed abroad, and German prosecutors have discretion in pursuing such cases. Brueckner was released from prison on 17 September 2025 after serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz. He was fitted with an electronic ankle tag, had his passport surrendered, and is reported to be living in a tent in woodland in northern Germany, with his travel restricted to the country.
Another possible route involves sharing evidence with Portuguese authorities. Since Portugal remains an EU member state, it could seek Brueckner’s extradition from Germany under the European Arrest Warrant framework. However, that would require Portuguese prosecutors to bring charges – and the alleged crime occurred on Portuguese soil, making it a potential jurisdiction for a trial in Portugal.
The only scenario in which Brueckner could be extradited directly to the UK is if he were to leave Germany and make himself vulnerable to arrest in another jurisdiction. “Following Brexit, the UK and EU negotiated a new extradition scheme which closely matched the European arrest warrant,” said Mr Vamos. “However, as the UK was now outside the EU, 10 countries, including Germany, exercised the option in Article 83 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement to impose a ‘nationality’ bar on extraditing their own citizens to the UK.”
Even if the CPS were to decide to request extradition, the process faces increased scrutiny. Richard Cannon, a partner at Stokoe Partnership Solicitors, explained: “The prosecution in the UK must have made a decision to prosecute before requesting extradition from Germany. A person can only be extradited to the UK for one of three purposes: to be prosecuted for a criminal offence, to be sentenced after conviction, or to serve a sentence already imposed. A person cannot be extradited for the purpose of determining whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute them or to permit further investigation.”
Mr Cannon added that post-Brexit requests face “increased documentation, longer timelines, and closer judicial scrutiny on issues like dual criminality, proportionality, and the adequacy of assurances”. Defendants can resist extradition where there is a “real risk to fundamental rights”, where proceedings would be oppressive due to health or delay, or where fair-trial and prison-conditions assurances are insufficient.
The Metropolitan Police have not yet formally requested extradition. A spokesperson for the force said: “The Met’s investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been active since 2011. A dedicated team continues to examine the events of the evening of 3 May 2007 in Praia da Luz, while supporting and updating Madeleine’s family. As part of ongoing enquiries, we remain in close working discussion with policing colleagues in Germany and Portugal. We will continue to pursue any viable lines of enquiry.”
Despite being named the prime suspect by German authorities in 2020, Brueckner has not been charged in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance in either Germany or the UK. German prosecutors have stated they believe they have “concrete evidence” that Madeleine is dead, but that has not been proven in court.
