It was only then that she realised the child not only wasn't Madeleine, it wasn't even a little girl.

To make matters worse, the boy's father is a famous Croatian footballer and his mother - who was with him at the time - is a renowned glamour model.

Dino Drpic, who is a defender for Dinamo Zagreb and has several international caps, and his wife Nives are the Posh and Becks of Croatia.

Their son Leone has long blond hair like Madeleine's, but the similarity ends there - he is even six months younger than the missing three-year-old.

Mistaken identity: Croatian model Nives Drpic and Madeleine McCann

Today Nives told of the moment that the British couple mistakenly attempted to make off with their little boy.

She said: 'I started getting suspicious when the British woman approached Leone and started chatting with him.

'Suddenly she grabbed him by the arm, apparently thinking nobody was watching him.

'However, when I went over she realised her mistake and apologised.'

Nives said she was used to people staring and taking photographs of her because she and her husband are famous in Croatia.

The British couple have not been named.

Madeleine was three when she disappeared during a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3 last year.

Since then there have been false sightings as far apart as Morocco, Belgium, Chile and Venezuela.