Berlin — Christian Brueckner, the convicted sex offender named by German authorities as the prime suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann almost two decades ago, has refused to be interviewed by U.K. police just days before his expected release from prison.

The 49-year-old German national is due to walk free by Wednesday after serving a seven-year sentence for a separate crime, the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in the same region of Portugal from which McCann vanished during a vacation with her family.

While Brueckner remains under formal investigation over McCann's 2007 disappearance , he has never been charged in connection with the case and he continues to deny any involvement.

Christian Brueckner, right, a suspect in the disappearance of British

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