Investigators have found an email account linking convicted rapist Christian Brueckner to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, in a shock reveal presented to a court this week.
Titus Stampa, a senior detective investigating the McCann case, told a German court he had found emails on a Hotmail account which "directly" links prime suspect Brueckner to the case.
Brueckner, 47, remains on trial for unrelated offences, but has been identified as a suspect in the case by German authorities.
And now, Stampa has told the court of his discovery of two email accounts - but admitted he had no clearance to discuss one because it was "related to [Madeleine's] killing".
The other, however, had been used by Brueckner to exchange child sex abuse images with other online paedophiles, the court heard.
But, notably, all of the messages in the account from the first half of 2007 - when Madeleine disappeared - had been deleted.
Stampa refused to confirm whether the account he would not discuss contained any "photos".
Though he did confirm investigators also had come into possession of a hard drive relating to the "murder" - which he also said he was not able to discuss.
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The detective told the Braunscheig court: "An external hard drive is also belonging to the killing case - and I am not allowed to talk about it."
When asked about the account used for the exchange of child sex abuse imagery, Stampa said: "I can remember that things were 'massively' deleted in the inbox... There was nothing in there from January 2007."
This is the first time any of the evidence upon which German authorities have based their suspicions about Brueckner has come to light.
While prosecutors have spoken publicly about their suspicions, and have mentioned "proof", they have continuously refused to reveal what it entails.
The comments come after Brueckner was seen smirking and fist-bumping his lawyer as he walked into court today.
The 47-year-old has continuously denied any involvement in McCann's disappearance.
Though his current trial sees him accused of five counts of sexual assault in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
He is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for a 2019 rape conviction and continues to deny the charges for which he is currently on trial.
