Helge Buschling, a former friend and sometimes accomplice to Christian Brueckner, has told police the suspect boasted about owning the tools.
He says Brueckner usedthe tools to “break into holiday resorts, hotels and holiday homes to steal from tourists”.
After Brueckner was arrested for theft, Buschling and an accomplice ‘ransacked’ Brueckner’s home and found “all sorts of stuff lying around”, including passports, cameras and the lock pick set.
The 14 picks are black stainless steel, with each designed for a specific door type. This allows “easier access” to European doors “fast”.
Portuguese police sources say Christian Brueckner refused to respond to questions put to him on their behalf by German officers.
Buschling, who is in protective custody, told a filmmaker that Brueckner would have “come through the door”, not a window, as previous theories suggested.
German police are “electrified” by the lock pick kit discovery – and are also looking into the possibility Brueckner used paint solvent to sedate Maddie that night.
Sources have suggested the suspect opened the window in Maddie’s room that night to let the fumes from the solvent out. German police have said the window was a “red herring”.
According to a police source, “this confirmed a suspicion that they’d had for a long time” that Brueckner came in the front door.
Police believe the front door was less likely to be viewed by passers-by as it is in a recessed area on the opposite side of the apartment facing towards a swimming pool and restaurant.
British, Portuguese and German investigators are still piecing together what happened on the night when the little girl disappeared from her bed in the southern Portuguese resort on May 3, 2007. She was in the same room as her brother and sister — 2-year-old twins — while her parents had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.