Portuguese police have asked their Spanish counterparts to investigate an alleged sighting in Nerja of the missing British child Madeleine McCann. The witness claims to have seen a girl in Nerja with a strong physical resemblance to Madeleine, who went missing in Portugal in May 2007.

The investigation is being carried out by the Specialist & Violent Crime Unit (UDEV) of the Spanish National Police, who have already begun to check this latest sighting.

Since the disappearance from Praia da Luz in the Algarve, there have been many claimed sightings of Madeleine in various locations, including Spain.

Last November Scotland Yard detectives flew to Barcelona as part of their own investigation into the disappearance.

Below are a series of images to show what Madeleine might look like now. These ‘age-progression’ images have been produced by experts at NCMEC, Washington.