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Madeleine
and, right, an artist's impression of the Victoria Beckham
lookalike. Private detectives hired by the McCanns have
always believed that the incident in Barcelona could be
significant |
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Madeleine was
nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday flat in
Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007 as her parents Kate and
Gerry dined with friends nearby. The incident with the woman
happened on May 7.
The theory is
that the child may have been snatched by a paedophile gang and
smuggled into Spain – an hour’s drive away from her family’s holiday
flat.
Private
detectives hired by the McCanns have always believed that the
suspicious incident in the Spanish port could be significant.
They made a
public appeal for information about the woman, said to have an
Australian or New Zealand accent and able to speak fluent Spanish,
who approached the Britons drinking in a bar at 2am.
One man was
approached by the woman, who was reportedly between 30 and 35, in
the belief that he was someone she was expecting to meet.
He described her
as appearing ‘agitated’
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Kate
McCann and Gerry McCann arrive at the High Court in London
to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry last month
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How
Madeleine McCann might look now (left) and with dark brown
hair and tanned skin in case she has been living in north
Africa (right) |
Madeleine, from
Rothley, Leicestershire, vanished from the Algarve holiday resort
four years ago. She was asleep in the family's holiday apartment
with her brother and sister when she vanished shortly before her
fourth birthday.
The detectives
who flew to Barcelona spent three days with their Spanish colleagues
and are among 30 Metropolitan Police officers carrying out a review
of her case. They are also examining possible sightings of Madeleine
after she vanished.
There were a
number of sightings of children matching her description in Spain
shortly after she disappeared, and Portuguese authorities were
criticised for not alerting border and police officials until 12
hours after she went missing.
In July, Scotland
Yard said it would examine all the evidence connected to the case,
including material gathered by private investigators, after a
request by David Cameron.
Detectives then
spent months reading a huge file of case material that had to be
translated from Portuguese to English.
Yesterday police
played down any suggestion of a breakthrough in the case, but
Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann said they were ‘pleased
that the review is making progress’.
A Met police
spokesman said: ‘There has been very good co-operation with
Portuguese authorities and liaison will continue.
‘Officers have
travelled to Portugal three times in connection with the
investigative review, and three officers travelled to Barcelona.
They are continuing to discuss how to take it forward and we are
hopeful that we will be able to do that.
