Blow for Madeleine McCann cops as ‘legal row’ could mean suspect Christian B WON’T be charged with her abduction

POLICE hoping to charge Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian B with her abduction and murder were rocked by a legal row which could scupper their case tonight.

Prosecutors from two different regions of Germany have clashed over the 45-year-old sex monster’s alleged links to Madeleine and other child snatch cases.

And the wrangle could wrestle the probe from the hands of cops in the northern city of Braunschweig who made the breakthrough which first identified the fiend.

Sources in Germany revealed tonight that the 16-year investigation into the British tot’s disappearance from her holiday apartment in Portugal could switch to Saxony-Anhalt.

The move would transfer control of the probe to Magdeburg's public prosecutor's office, which has focused more on the hunt for Inga Gehricke - the missing girl dubbed “Germany’s Maddie.”

Inga vanished in 2015 during a family picnic close to where Christian B was renovating a derelict factory.

And German sources now fear the move could doom the Madeleine case after an application was made to have it dismissed.

Christian B's lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher last night denied using loopholes to get Maddie cops off his client's back.

He told The Sun tonight: "This is not an attempt to take away a case from the public prosecution office in Braunschweig.

"It is simply my job to work towards compliance with procedural law for the accused. That's all I am doing here.

"According to my examinations, (as confirmed by the Braunschweig district court), the public prosecution office of Braunschweig is simply not responsible for the jurisdiction here."

A source in Germany told The Sun: “Moving the McCann case to Saxony-Anhalt would be a big win for Christian B's legal team.

“Police in Braunschweig led by the German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters have made more progress than anyone else and say they have concrete evidence Christian B killed Madeleine.

“Wolters remains determined to charge Christian B and is resisting the move to have the case dismissed - but it could be out of his hands.”

Prosecutors in Saxony-Anhalt are understood to have demanded the reins of the multiple Christian B probes because more of his crimes have links to their “patch.”

The Braunschweig public prosecutor's office has been forced to lodge an appeal against the decision of Braunschweig Regional Court to dismiss the Madeleine case.

Its fate tonight lay in the hands of the Higher Regional Court based in Celle in Lower Saxony.

Christian B - currently in jail in Germany for the rape of a US pensioner before Maddie’s 2007 abduction in Praia da Luz - has been linked to a string child kidnaps dating back years.

Inga from Schönebeck Saxony-Anhalt is among the unsolved cases investigated without success - despite a reward of £22,000 offered for information leading to her whereabouts.

Asked about the possible switch to a new court’s jurisdiction, Braunschweig prosecutor Wolters insisted he was still in control of the investigation.

And he played down suggestions that his Madeleine probe could be abandoned altogether.

He told The Sun: “We will continue to investigate the Madeleine case and the accused will remain in custody.

“With regard to the decision of the Regional Court of Braunschweig on jurisdiction, we will first carefully examine the reasons.

“Then probably have the decision reviewed by the Higher Regional Court of Braunschweig.

“We continue to assume that we are responsible for a decision by the Higher Regional Court, so that the investigations into the Maddie case will continue as planned.

“In our view, there is currently no reason for speculation and a possible related abandonment of the proceedings.”

The legal blow came days after Madeleine’s parents pledged on her 20th birthday on Friday: “We love you and we're waiting for you - we're never going to give up.”

Kate, 55, and 54-year-old Gerry added: “Happy Birthday Madeleine. Still missing. Still very much missed. Still looking. For as long as it takes.”

Their message on the Find Madeleine Facebook page was posted beside a picture of the three-year-old smiling in a pink sun hat days before she vanished in May, 2007.

The family also released a video and more pictures of their long-lost daughter, including one of her riding a pink bike and another in a Disney princess costume.

She was snatched nine days before her fourth birthday from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal's Algarve after being left with her twin siblings when her parents went out for dinner.

Her parents have refused to give up hope that she is alive - despite police claims she was kidnapped and killed by Christian B.

The tormented couple - doctors from Rothley, Leics - have tirelessly campaigned for years, pleading for any information which may shed light on their daughter’s fate.