Story By:  Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

A rape allegation by an Irish woman who German prosecutors believe could be Maddie McCann kidnapping suspect Christian Brueckner could collapse after it was revealed he is not believed to have a scar that she described in her victim statement.

Police in Portugal reopened the investigation into the rape of Irishwoman Hazel Behan after she contacted them to say that she believed Brueckner might have been the man that attacked her.

The woman, aged 39, from Dublin had been working as a holiday rep in Praia da Rocha when she was violently attacked in the summer of 2004.

The incident two weeks before her 21st birthday was reported to police in which she described him as having “blonde eyebrows, piercing blue eyes” and she said that he spoke English with a German accent.

She contacted police after saying that she felt there were similarities between the rape a year later which Brueckner carried out on a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz.

Brave Hazel had waived her right to anonymity and said at the time: “My mind was blown when I read how he had attacked a woman in 2005, both the tactics and the methods he used, the tools he had with him, how well he had planned it out. I puked, to be honest with you, as reading about it took me right back to my experience. This woman was the victim of a horrific crime and she has suffered a lot. It is a matter for police all over Europe to do their best to bring the person who carried out this crime to justice.”

But the case against him may fold over the question of a visible mark on his body.

According to information in German media the woman had told police in Portugal that he had a scar or a skin blemish of some form on his upper right thigh.

In the Irish police protocol of the incident, it is described as “a tad too on his backside”.

Hazel said that the Irish version was a translation error and that the Portuguese statement was correct in that she had seen either a scar or something else like a large birthmark or a mole. Either way a significant skin blemish.

But according to information obtained by Bild, Brueckner does not have a scar or any other skin blemish in this region. He has apparently agreed to an examination to see whether he has a scar like this.

His lawyer, Friedrich Fülscher, 38, said: “If it turns out to be true that Mr Brueckner does not have this characteristic, he would have to be excluded as the perpetrator.”

So far prosecutors have declined to comment on the allegations in German media.