Madeleine McCann suspect 'struggling' with lawyers concerned for his welfare

McCann, aged just three at the time, went missing from her bed while on holiday with her family in Portugal in 2007.

Brueckner is also said to have found it “unfair” that investigators have not yet shared any of their evidence against him with his legal team.

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He maintains his innocence to his lawyers but has been connected to the toddler’s disappearance for sometime.

"Christian B has regularly told pals he speaks to from prison how tough it is being the Madeleine suspect," a source told The Sun.

"It makes his lawyers furious if anyone ever asks how Christian B is doing.

"It’s clear he is struggling with the pressure of being so firmly in the spotlight of the world - even if he is behind bars.

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"He hates being suspected of one of the most famous crimes in the world. And his lawyers hate that he is constantly the subject of headlines.

"He is behind bars for crimes he has already been convicted of committing.

"But I think he forgets there is a family out there who has lost their little girl."

Brueckner is serving a seven year jail sentece in Oldenburg after being convicted of raping an American pensioner in Portugal in 2005.

The suspect’s lawyers have described the hunt for evidence as a “fruitless search”.

A source said: “What a client says to his lawyer is protected in Germany in the same way as in the UK.

“But [his solicitor Friedrich] Fülscher is not going to stand up in public for any client and say he's convinced of their innocence when they have told him something different.”