The top suspect in the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann in Portugal was freed from a German prison on Wednesday, an AFP journalist at the scene reported.

Christian Brueckner, 48, had been serving a seven-year term at Sehnde prison in northern Germany for rape, but he has not been charged in the McCann case because of a lack of evidence, prosecutors say.

Brueckner was driven away in his lawyer's car accompanied by two police vans, watched by a large group of journalists who had waited outside the correctional facility.

Prosecutors in Braunschweig have accused him of being behind the disappearance of McCann, widely known as "Maddie", the notorious missing person case which has captivated the world media for years.

Three-year-old Madeleine vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007 while her parents dined at a nearby tapas bar.

However, a lack of solid evidence prevented them from laying charges against Brueckner, who denies the claims against him.

This........

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