ABOVE: FAMILY LIKENESS: The new image shows Maddie's likeness to mum Kate

THIS is how missing Madeleine McCann may look today – two years after she went missing

The picture was created by experts used CSI-style forensic wizardry.

A growth spurt would have left Maddie, who vanished in a Portuguese holiday resort aged three, with less puppy fat and a wider mouth and nose – but with the same innocent eyes.
 

Forensic computer specialist Jovey Mae Hayes employed cutting-edge techniques used in FBI missing person cases.
 

Her Michigan-based company Age Progression spent hours studying pictures of Maddie and her parents.

Talking about Maddie’s resemblance to mum Kate, 41, Miss Hayes said: “That resemblance will almost certainly grow stronger as she gets older
 

Changing

“She has her mother’s cheeks and chin. She is at an age where the structure of her face is discernibly changing.

“This will give it a slightly longer appearance, with less of the chubbiness of two years ago.

“Her cheeks and mouth will, however, look fuller, with teeth coming through.”

Miss Hayes, who has worked on scores of missing person cases, kept in distinctive details, including the pigmentation in Madeleine’s right eye.

She said: “Sometimes this pigmentation issue can vanish with age, but some people, like singer David Bowie for example, retain it all their lives.”

Madeleine vanished in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday.

Her parents Gerry, 40, and Kate, will appear in a one-hour special on the Oprah Winfrey show.
 

Audience

Oprah, 55, will interview the couple in front of an audience and footage of them at home with their twins will also be shown.

The appearance, which they are not being paid for, will fall on the second anniversary of Maddie’s disappearance.

A separate reconstruction of known events will be shown by Channel 4 on May 7.

Miss Hayes said that any kidnapper would want to change Maddie’s appearance in order to avoid attention.

But as time went the culprit might feel safe enough to let her grow her blonde hair.

She said: “Her hair, if allowed to grow naturally, would be very noticeably longer.”

Oprah has ordered her own updated image from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington DC.

The McCann’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “Kate and Gerry see the show as a very important platform to reach a global audience.

“Oprah has a high profile and reach and they felt that it was important to appear.

“They hope it will lead to crucial information that will bring their daughter home.