Christian B. is suspected of being responsible for Maddie McCann's disappearance. The fact that the investigators got on his track is due to Helge B. The 52-year-old is the most important witness in the case and is now speaking publicly for the first time.
"I didn't expect the dimensions it all took on," says Helge B. in an interview with "
Bild ". "It ruined my life." What is meant are his statements in the Maddie McCann case, through which the investigators tracked down Christian B.
The 52-year-old met the alleged perpetrator in the parking lot of a pub
in Portugal through his friends Micha and Manni. The first impression was positive, and Helge B., who was a criminal himself at the time, had heard of Christian B's abilities. "I had heard that he gets into hotels, is a good climber, goes in via the balconies. Then we saw each other more often. I never had the feeling that something was wrong," says Helge B..
Witness reports on terrible videos he found at Christian B
That changed because of a theft. Together with his friend Manni, Helge B. joined Christian B. because he was in prison. The aim was to steal diesel. Because the front door was open, the duo went into the apartment, searched it and took a video camera, some films and a pistol with them, he says in an interview with "Bild".
When the two watched the films, they initially found nothing conspicuous. Then they saw the video of an older woman. "At first I thought: This is a feature film!" reports Helge B. and then describes what he was on the video. "You could see someone whipping the woman. She was tied up, lying on the bed, must have been 70 or 80 years old. She wore painted diving goggles and couldn't see. She spoke English and shouted: You *advertiser censored*! At the end of the video, he sat down on the bed and pulled down the mask.” That's when he recognized Christian B.
"I couldn't believe it," reports the 52-year-old "Bild". He also saw another video on which a presumably underage girl was tied naked to a beam while Christian B. sat behind her and laughed. "I knew then what kind of guy he was," says Helge B.
The policeman and lawyer advised Helge B. to keep his hands off the matter
When he reported what had happened to a
police officer in Germany, he advised him to keep his hands off the matter. A lawyer told him the same thing. "I wasn't sure what could happen to me - I would have incriminated myself." Nevertheless, he left the videos in his trailer in Portugal. Where these are is unknown.
In 2008 he met Christian B. again at a festival, the witness reports. The language then turned to Portugal due to possible further thefts. Helge B. said that he no longer drives there because there have been too many police officers and controls since Maddie's disappearance.
"She didn't scream": Maddie witness reports how B. confessed to the crime
"I said: I don't understand anyway how the little one could disappear without a trace," reports Helge B. "Christian had drunk two or three beers and then said: She didn't scream." After this quasi-confession he immediately understood what Christian B. had done, reports the witness. "I thought: He knows that. He has to do with it."
The next morning, Christian B. and the camper van were gone. Helge B. suspects that he understood that he had spilled the beans.
Also in 2008 he then called Scotland Yard on the Maddie hotline, the witness continues to report. He passed on Christian B.'s name. "They took my personal details, my phone number. But nothing happened there. Nothing! I was never called back," says Helge B. to "Bild".
Witness has his own theory about Maddie's disappearance
In 2017, about ten years after Maddie's disappearance, he called Scotland Yard again - this time with consequences. First he met two officials in Athens, then gave his testimony
in London . In 2018, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) reported because they needed his statement regarding the rape of the elderly lady he had seen on Christian B.'s videos. A year later he finally saw the main suspect in the Maddie case in court.
He has his own theory about Maddie's disappearance. "My theory is that he was planning a
burglary . That it went wrong and he found the kids in the apartment. And then he took Maddie with him. It probably wasn't planned at all.” In any case, he trusts him to have kidnapped the girl. "I don't know if he killed her in the end."
Witness: Ever since he tipped off investigators about Maddie, 'I've been on the run'
Helge B also talks about the reason why he is now making this story public. “It all has to come to an end. So many lies are being spread about me and there is nothing I can do about it. I'm helpless." He doesn't want the reward for information about Maddie's disappearance, he says it should be donated.
He lived and worked in Corsica until reporters showed up at his door. Then the "gauntlet" started, his past caught up with him, says the 52-year-old. "The BKA has reported: You have to go there until grass has grown over the matter. Since then I've been on the run. It's no fun. I long for my old life back, but that is no longer possible.”
Appeal to Christian B.: "I hope you don't get away with it"
He wishes there was finally peace, says Helge B. "It's clear to me that Maddie is no longer alive. As sad as that is, it would be better if her body was found. I'm worried that Christian B. will get away with it."
He also has a message for the prime suspect: "Christian, I hope you don't get away with this story. With what you did You deny these videos exist. These videos existed. Unfortunately they are missing. But I saw her."
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