A NEW potential witness in the Madeleine McCann case has been tracked down by The Sun.
We traced Ralph H amid claims Germany’s FBI — the BKA — wanted to talk to him about the missing girl.
Detectives believe the previously close friend of chief suspect Christian Brueckner, 47, could have vital information about her vanishing.
We asked him to clarify if he knew anything and was prepared to talk to police, but in a blow to the ongoing investigation he made a categorical refusal.
He said: “I will never speak to you, I will never speak to the police.
"I will never speak to the state police, I will never speak to the BKA.”
It comes after a detective confirmed: “We urgently need to speak to this man in connection to his relationship with Christian Brueckner.
“We must find him to ask him about missing Madeleine McCann.”
He continued: “He (Ralph) is not at home, he doesn’t answer the phone, he’s apparently disappeared.”
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters previously said: “He’s a neighbour who could be interesting to talk to.”
Christian Brueckner rented a small blue house at the Kennelblick allotment garden for three years close to where 56-year-old Ralph H lives, in Braunschweig, Germany.
One neighbour said: “Ralph definitely knows everything about Christian Brueckner’s life.
"That’s why the police are so keen to speak to him.”
Madeleine, three, disappeared from a flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007 while on holiday with parents Kate and Gerry, of Rothley, Leics.
German investigators believe Christian Brueckner abducted and murdered her, though no charges have been filed against him.
He is on trial in Braunschweig charged with three rapes and two counts of sexual abuse of children in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
The cases are unrelated to Madeleine’s disappearance, for which he denies involvement.
Christian Brueckner faces up to 15 years’ jail if convicted but could be free in less than two years if acquitted when his seven-year 2019 rape sentence ends.
