Madeleine McCann prime suspect is freed from round-the-clock police surveillance after a German court rules he is 'not high risk'

Christian Brueckner, the convicted rapist and paedophile who remains the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance, had his round-the-clock monitoring dropped after the Schleswig-Holstein Higher Regional Court ruled constant surveillance was hindering his rehabilitation. Brueckner's lawyer Philipp Marquort said his client repeatedly said "thank you" on hearing the news. The ruling overturns an earlier assessment and follows 13 months of officers tailing Brueckner's every move since his release last September.

Brueckner will still wear an electronic ankle tag and face other supervision restrictions despite the surveillance order ending.

A new independent psychiatric report concluded he poses only an "average" rather than high risk of reoffending — reversing the findings that originally justified the watch.

Brueckner has never been charged over Madeleine's 2007 disappearance and refused to speak to Metropolitan Police investigators after his prison release.