Prime suspect in Madeleine McCann case slapped with strict conditions ahead of jail release

The suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has had strict conditions slapped on him ahead of his expected release from prison in the morning.

Christian B, who can't be fully identified under privacy laws, will have to wear an electronic tag, surrender his passport and register his address with probation officers.

The German drifter, 49, is being freed after serving a seven-year sentence for rape, but remains the only suspect for the abduction of Madeleine, the toddler who vanished on a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.

It was not known where he would head, or who might help him adjust to a new life as the only suspect in the world's most notorious unsolved child abduction mystery.

Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who leads the Madeleine investigation, believes Christian B, 49, abducted and murdered the three-year-old during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.

Madeleine vanished from her bed in a rented apartment as her parents and their friends dined nearby at the hotel complex in Praia da Luz on the Algarve coast.

Earlier this week it emerged the Metropolitan Police had sent a formal "international letter of request" to Christian B in order for them to interview him - but he rejected it.

Explainer: The chequered history of Christian B

In the past few days, a probation case conference decided on the restrictions which his lawyers are expected to challenge.

His lawyer Philipp Marquort said: "This is an attempt by the public prosecutor's office to keep him in a kind of pre-trial detention where they would have access to him at any time."

Christian B has denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.

Madeleine, who was nearly four, was sleeping in a room with her younger twin siblings when she went missing.

(c) Sky News 2025: Prime suspect in Madeleine McCann case slapped with strict conditions ahead of jail release