The 47-year-old German man who is the prime suspect in the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann in Portugal went on trial on Friday morning for unrelated sex offences.

The crowd of spectators and press outside the courthouse in the central German city of Braunschweig was so large that the start of the trial was briefly delayed.

The accused, who can only be identified as Christian B under Germany’s strict privacy laws, was facing charges on three counts of rape and two counts of sexual abuse of children.

All of these charges date will be between December 2000 and June 2017.

The crimes were allegedly committed in Portugal.

The man has never been charged in the young girl’s disappearance, although investigators remain convinced that he was the most likely culprit.

According to a court spokeswoman, no witnesses have yet been summoned for the first day of the trial.

The defendant’s attorney, Friedrich Fülscher, has asserted his client’s innocence and said he would seek an acquittal on the charges.

German investigators announced in the summer of 2020 that they suspect Christian B, who has a lengthy and serious criminal record, including previous rape convictions, in the case.

The young girl vanished from a vacation resort in Praia da Luz in the Algarve, Portugal, in May 2007.

The case made headlines around the world and has been covered extensively in the British press.

(dpa/NAN)