The trial is Brueckner’s first public court appearance since being named the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.

He is alleged to have carried out five offences in the Algarve between 2000 and 2017.

These offences include the alleged rape of an Irish tour rep, who was attacked in her apartment Praia da Rocha in 2004.

Brueckner is also charged with raping a teenage girl in his Praia da Luz home and raping an elderly woman in her holiday apartment.

He also faces a child sex charge for allegedly exposing himself to a German girl on a beach in Salema in April 2007 and an alleged indecent exposure in front of an 11-year-old in Sao Bartolomeu de Messines in 2017.

German media reported on Friday that handwritten notes and sketches will form part of the prosecution case. Broadcaster RTL claimed the most disturbing of these is a sketch that appears to depict the rape of a child.

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Prosecutor Hans-Christian Wolters said: “These notebooks containing handwritten notes and drawings provide insights into the accused’s thoughts.

“These were seized during searches. There are parallels between the way in which the alleged acts were committed and the records and drawings of the accused.”

He added that the notebooks contained “some very personal content.”

Brueckner was charged with the new offences in October 2022 but the case was delayed following a legal row over jurisdiction.

Madeleine disappeared from her parents’ holiday apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007.

Her parents Kate and Gerry were dining with friends in a nearby tapas restaurant at the time. The couple have refused to give up hope that their daughter will one day be found alive.

Brueckner, who lived in a ramshackle Praia da Luz farmhouse at the time of her disappearance, was named as a suspect in 2020.

He denies any involvement in the crime. The German is serving a seven-year prison term for rape and drug trafficking and is due for release in 2026.