The suspect in the Maddie case remains in custody following a decision by the Oldenburg Higher Regional Court. Christian B. had previously applied for parole.

No early release for Christian B.: He had complained about a corresponding decision by the Oldenburg district court, and the higher regional court has now rejected this complaint, as the Oldenburg “Nordwest-Zeitung” (Thursday) reported.

The 45-year-old is currently serving several years in prison for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2005. Around a year and a half after this crime, then three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from a nearby apartment complex.

According to the report, under certain conditions, convicts can leave the prison early – on probation – if they have served half of the sentence imposed. This time had come, so the prisoner had filed an application with the district court.

Investigators assume that Christian B. kidnapped and killed Maddie. There are many leads, but the chain of evidence is not closed and the principle of the presumption of innocence applies. Maddie’s disappearance without a trace is not the only case in which the Braunschweig public prosecutor’s office is still investigating Christian B.