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Original Source:
EXPRESS: 01
OCTOBER 2007 |
Monday October 1,2007
By Tony Bonnici and David Pilditch in Praia da
Luz
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THE hunt for Madeleine McCann is focusing on Morocco after another credible
sighting was made by a British tourist two months after she disappeared.
Samantha Peart, 43, said she saw a girl matching Madeleine’s description in a
remote village in northern Morocco
on July 10.
She reported the sighting to local police after returning home and the
information was passed on to Portuguese detectives but she has heard nothing
since. Their latest theory is that Madeleine died in a fall down steps outside
her parents’ holiday apartment, it was reported yesterday. The sighting was not
far from another by a Spanish tourist who spotted a girl she insists was
Madeleine with a woman believed to be a member of a people-smuggling gang.
With attention increasingly turning towards the North African country,
television adverts in Arabic will this week be screened across the country as
part of a major new campaign to find missing Madeleine.
Parents Kate and Gerry are clinging to the hope their four-year-daughter is
still alive and may have been smuggled into North Africa.
Private investigators, including ex-SAS soldiers, are believed to be on the
ground in Morocco
following up leads.
They are understood to be investigating paedophile networks and human
trafficking gangs while re-interviewing witnesses over a series of sightings.
Last week Kate and Gerry were left heartbroken after the most promising
“sighting” so far proved false.
A girl who looked like Madeleine who was photographed by a Spanish couple on
holiday turned out to be the daughter of a local farmer.
Portuguese police are so convinced she was killed by her own parents they have
ruled out every other possibility.
That has meant that the man leading the hunt for the child, Goncalo Amaral, has
not bothered chasing up 252 tip-offs including potential sightings.
Last night Mrs Peart revealed how she saw a little girl matching Madeleine’s
description in Morocco,
in July.
But since reporting the sighting to Leicestershire Police – who are acting as
agents for the Portuguese authorities on this case – she has heard nothing.
Mrs Peart said: “Unless it is checked out how will anyone know?”
The mother-of-four was in the port town of Nador – far off the country’s tourist
hot-spots – when she says she saw the girl.
She contacted the Daily Express yesterday after reading of another sighting by
Spanish tourist Isabel Gonzalez in the neighbouring town of Zaio.
Mrs Peart, from Castle Eden, near Hartlepool, says she was in Morocco with
her stockbroker husband Jonathan. “I saw this Arabic woman in local dress and
behind her was a very blonde little girl,” she said.
“She was striking because the people in this part of the country are all very
dark – bordering on black. “But this little girl was very blonde and I’d say
she was around the right age.
“She was following this woman down an alley way, then they disappeared from
view. At the time I dismissed it, I felt silly telling my husband and the rep
what I’d seen.
“But as time went on I kept thinking more and more about it and it started to
dwell on my mind.
“When we got back to the UK
a few days later I contacted Leicestershire Police and a local policeman took a
statement from me and sent it to them.
“They told me it was being passed to the Portuguese police and that it would be
processed. But I heard nothing for weeks.”
However, consultant cardiologist Gerry, 39, wrote on his internet blog at the
weekend: “Despite the disappointment, it is encouraging that people are still
being vigilant and have not stopped looking for Madeleine.
“This is so incredibly important to us both.”
He called for any potential witnesses to call police immediately if they
thought they had seen Madeleine and to note any helpful information such as a
registration number or address. |
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http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/20607/MADELEINE-SHE-IS-IN-MOROCCO |
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