Hunt team has its deal 'dropped'

August 26, 2008
Europe Intelligence Wire


A firm of private investigators hired to hunt for Madeleine McCann has reportedly had its GBP 500,000 contract dropped. The US-based Oakley International had been given a six-month contract and was paid from the Find Madeleine Fund.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Brian Kennedy, Clarence Mitchell, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann

Stranger in shadows ignored by detectives

George Brooks / Burke

Stranger in shadows ignored by detectives
Maddie 'sighting' on CCTV at Brussels bank
11 August 2008
The Sun
Veronica Lorraine in Praia da Luz

PORTUGUESE cops failed to probe a possible sighting of Maddie's abductor near her family's holiday apartment, police case files reveal.

Babysitter Margaret Hall was looking after a little girl in the flat eight months before the McCanns arrived.

When she investigated a noise outside, she saw a shoe in the shadows. She cried out and a man stepped out shouting, "No, no". Margaret said he was almost certainly Portuguese.

She told detectives she returned to the apartment "in a state of shock".

Couple

But police regarded the incident as "outdated" as it occurred so long before Maddie went missing, their 20,000-page dossier shows.

Police also failed to interview pizza worker George Brooks, 61, of Liverpool, who saw a suspicious couple carrying a child near the local marina hours after Maddie vanished.

Mr Brooks spoke to the McCanns' private detectives. But by the time Portuguese police visited his restaurant they were told he had left.

In another possible lead, Ernesto Mochacho, 23, told police of a "tall, thin Englishman in his 40s" who was taking photos of kids on a beach where the McCanns took Maddie.

They asked him to get in touch if he saw him again. But Ernesto added: "I never saw him after that."

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said last night: "Kate and Gerry hoped from the outset that the police were following up every lead."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Clarence Mitchell, George Brooks, George Burke, Madeleine McCann

Cops ignored it

George Brooks / Burke

Cops ignored it
11 August 2008
Mirror
Victoria Ward in Praia da Luz

Newly-released evidence reveals a man tried to abduct a child at McCanns' flat 8 months before Maddy was taken..

A SUSPECTED abductor was spotted spying on Madeleine McCann's flat before she vanished - but Portuguese police ignored the tip-off, it emerged yesterday.

British babysitter Margaret Hall was caring for a girl aged six in the same apartment when she saw the prowler lurking in the dark and peering inside.

A statement and his description were passed to officers - who dismissed it as irrelevant, their files on the bungled probe reveal.

Last night a friend of Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry branded the police reaction "astonishing".

The couple's private Metodo 3 detectives will now urgently pursue the potentially vital lead.

Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said:

"Kate and Gerry hoped from the outset that police were following up every lead in the most thorough and professional manner possible.

"Where any information is found to not have been followed up, our private investigators are working on it, all of it."

Their zeal is in marked contrast to that of local cops, who shrugged off the report as "of no relation to the...investigation" and never bothered to contact Margaret.

British police intelligence has suggested Madeleine may have been snatched on May 3 last year days after being snapped by a spotter for Belgian paedophiles.

Margaret had reported her autumn 2006 sighting to Metodo 3 in November 2007 and they informed police. Parents of the youngster she was looking after were out for the night and had warned her about rodents in Apartment 5A at Praia da Luz's Ocean Club complex.

Margaret encountered the prowler as she went to check for rats at about 12.30am.

The Metodo 3 statement given to official detectives reveals:

"She left by the main entrance and, in a dark area, with movement sensitive lights, she noticed something moving and thought it was a rat.

"She was shocked when on closer examination she saw it was the brown shoe of a man who was peeping in the dark area outside the apartment.

"She shouted and the man came out of the darkness, activating the lights. He walked towards her and said, 'No, no'."

The prowler was said to be aged 23-25, of Mediterranean appearance and with long, black curly hair. He wore light trousers and a checked blue shirt.

Margaret is convinced he had a Portuguese accent.

Kate and Gerry's pal Jane Tanner has told police that on the night Madeleine vanished she saw a dark-haired man in beige trousers carrying a child and hurrying from the direction of the flat.

Margaret reported her sighting to her boss but he was more bothered about a rat infestation.

The babysitter - who spent six months working for the Ocean Club complex until November 2006 - contacted Metodo 3 via their helpline.

The Spanish private sleuths met Portuguese police on November 14 last year and passed on the tip-off. But Portuguese officers dismissed it out of hand because the sighting came around eight months before Madeleine vanished.

Their 30,000 pages of case notes reveal:

"The director of M3 (Metodo 3) handed us a small notepad with information relating to Madeleine's disappearance.

"They said the information had come from their Spanish Madeleine helpline.

"We notice that it reports facts which took place in August/Sept of 2006, which seems to us outdated and of no relation to the material under investigation."

British nanny Charlotte Pennington worked at the resort last year and said she had heard reports of a suspicious man lurking around apartments.

Meanwhile, it has emerged police failed to quiz Liverpool man George Brooks, 61, who saw a suspicious couple carrying a child in Praia da Luz hours after Madeleine vanished.

By the time police finally visited the restaurant where he worked, he had left and they made no further effort to contact him.

Several holidaymakers also told police about a man behaving strangely near Praia da Luz.

Metodo 3

Spanish private investigators, based in Barcelona, are said to be being paid £50,000 a day to hunt for Madeleine. Since taking on the case it has received 16,000 calls from potential witnesses.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Brian Kennedy, Clarence Mitchell, George Brooks, George Burke, Madeleine McCann, Metodo3

'Kidnapper in the shadows' outside Maddie's bedroom

George Brooks / Burke

'Kidnapper in the shadows' outside Maddie's bedroom
11 August 2008
Daily Mail
Vanessa Allen in Praia da Luz

Police failed to investigate a previous suspected abduction attempt from Kate and Gerry McCann's holiday apartment, it was disclosed yesterday.

A babysitter spotted a man lurking in the shadows outside apartment 5A while she was looking after a young girl inside.

But Portuguese police searching for missing Madeleine McCann dismissed her account as 'irrelevant' and refused to investigate.

The failure, one of a host of missed opportunities, was revealed in the mammoth files released last week.

It emerged as police in Belgium continued to trawl through CCTV footage from a bank in Brussels where a security guard reported seeing a girl resembling Madeleine last week.

The McCanns' private detectives are working on a theory that Madeleine was abducted and taken to Belgium on the orders of a paedophile gang who had seen a photograph of her taken by a 'spotter' in Portugal.

Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said their detectives were working on all the missed clues in the police files.

He said:

'Kate and Gerry hoped from the outset that the police were following up every lead in the most thorough and professional manner possible. Where any information is found not to have been followed up, our investigators are working on it, all of it.'

The case files showed that Margaret Hall, a babysitter at the Mark Warner resort, was interviewed by detectives working for the McCanns from the Spanish-based agency Metodo 3 last year. They handed their report, marked 'Very Confidential', to the Portuguese police. It said Miss Hall had been in apartment 5A with a young girl in September 2006 - eight months before Madeleine's disappearance - when she heard a noise outside.

She went to investigate, the statement said, adding: 'In a dark area she noticed something was moving and thought it was a rat.

'She was shocked when, on closer examination, she saw it was the brown shoe of a man. She shouted and the man came out of the darkness, activating movement-sensitive lights. He walked towards her, saying "No, no".'

The incident happened on a Thursday night - the same night Madeleine was taken. But an internal Portuguese police memo said the report 'seems to us to be out-dated and of no relevance to the material under investigation'.

Detectives also failed to question George Brooks, 61, from Liverpool, who reported seeing a couple carrying a child near the local marina only hours after Madeleine vanished. A friend of the McCanns, of Rothley, Leicestershire, said last night: 

'The way the Policia Judiciaria dismissed a lot of the leads is astonishing. At the moment Kate and Gerry are concentrating on the Belgium sighting, as it was the most recent.'

A guard at the KBC bank in Brussels says he saw a blonde, blue-eyed girl with a Moroccan-looking woman last Monday.

The McCanns now have detectives working around the world at a reported cost of £166,000 a month.

Among the possible sightings they are following up, also apparently ignored by the Portuguese, is one by a British yachtsman on the Caribbean island of Margarita last May.

Trevor Francis, 64, of Worthing, West Sussex, said: 'I saw the little blemish in her right eye. She was the absolute image of Madeleine.' He said the girl was in a restaurant with three women who looked Spanish. She seemed 'sullen' and refused to eat.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Brian Kennedy, Clarence Mitchell, George Brooks, George Burke, Madeleine McCann, Metodo3

Dodgy trackers top a catalogue of police howlers

Dodgy trackers top a catalogue of police howlers
10 August 2008
People
Dean Rousewell

EXCLUSIVE DOGGED BY BLUNDERS

BUNGLING Portuguese cops used DUFF sniffer dogs in the search for missing Madeleine McCann.

The animals had only been trained to follow scents in the countryside - yet four-year-old Maddie vanished from her family's holiday apartment a busy TOWN.

And the trackers weren't brought in for five days after the tot disappeared - even though experts said they should have been there within 48 hours.

When the dogs did finally arrive in Praia da Luz, they gave up the hunt after just 100 yards because they were confused by the stench of rotting food from a pile of binbags.

The appalling blunder is revealed in a damning report by Portuguese state prosecutors.

And it is just one of a catalogue of disastrous gaffes by detectives after the toddler went missing from the Ocean Club complex on May 3 last year.

The bungles began almost as soon as Maddie was reported lost.

Blood specks in her bedroom were missed by Portuguese police - only to be found by British cops when they were drafted in three months later.

Bedding was not forensically tested for traces of an abductor.

Cops failed to seal off the flat in the hours after the disappearance.

No fingertip search of local streets was carried out at the time - and house-to-house inquiries were not launched for 48 hours.

Two days passed before police got a list of other holidaymakers at the complex - by which time many of them had already flown home.

Border guards were only alerted about Maddie after 24 hours and coastguards were told nothing for 14 hours.

The catastrophic blunders continued after the shambles with the dogs.

Detectives spent hours poring over footprints found at the scene - which turned out to belong to policemen.

Forensic samples sent for analysis contained ash from cops' cigarettes.

Chief detective Goncalo Amaral, 47 - later thrown off the case after criticising British cops - was accused of taking boozy three-hour breaks.

Police only declared the McCanns' holiday flat a crime scene after two months - allowing 11 other tourists to contaminate vital evidence. And cops leaked stories to local media about Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry and British ex-pat Robert Murat, who were all named official suspects.

The prosecutors said: "Investigators worked with an enormous margin of error and achieved very little in terms of conclusive results, especially with regards to the fate of the unfortunate child."

The sniffer dog revelation infuriated Kate and Gerry, who were only recently ruled out as suspects.

A family friend said last night: "It is heartbreaking for them - but sadly it will be no surprise."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Carvi Scandal, Gonçalo Amaral

'I saw eye-mark girl.. weeks ago'

'I saw eye-mark girl.. weeks ago'
Secrets of the Madeleine dossier
The Sunday Mirror
10 August 2008
Lori Campbell

A little girl with Madeleine's unique eye blemish was seen in the Caribbean just 12 weeks ago.

The sighting is being treated as "high priority" by Kate and Gerry's private investigators as it is the first to mention the distinctive mark in her right eye.

Briton Trevor Francis, captain of a charter yacht, is convinced he saw Maddy on the island of Margarita where he was moored.

The marina is on a direct shipping route from Portugal - where she was snatched. He saw three women in a restaurant on May 16 with a girl he is "85 per cent certain" was Madeleine.

Mr Francis has told British police: "I noticed that the little girl was white with fair hair.

"There are sometimes white children in Venezuela but not as fair as this child.

"She really stood out. She was the absolute image of the missing Madeleine McCann. She was very sullen-looking and refused to eat. She looked unhappy and out of place."

He added: "I shuffled in my seat so I could see 'Madeleine' clearly.

"I was about four or five feet away from the little girl. Her eyes met mine as I walked past and that's when I saw the little blemish in her right eye - it was like a little fleck."

British police advised Portuguese police to treat the sighting as "very high priority", but the files do not say what, if any, action was taken. The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "It is very encouraging that Mr Francis got close enough to see the mark, which we believe is unique to Madeleine.

"Our investigators will be speaking to him."

In another new sighting, Angolan Marco Ventura claimed he saw a girl identical to Madeleine in Portugal, in a Dutch-registered BMW, five weeks after she disappeared.

Two other witnesses have said they saw her in Holland.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Clarence Mitchell, Lori Campbell, Madeleine McCann, News of the World, Ross Hall

Tapas 7: Why we feared the police would frame us

Tapas 7: Why we feared the police would frame us
Exclusive Friends felt invite would be a trap to nail the McCanns
The Sunday Mirror
10 August 2008
Lori Campbell

Kate gets DIY policing guide to help investigation 
Cop liaison 'irritated' by Gerry emails on case leads

Secrets of the Madeleine dossier

KATE and Gerry McCann's "Tapas 7" friends refused to return to Portugal because they feared they were pawns in an elaborate plot to frame the couple.

And the group of friends believed they too could be made suspects if they returned to the country.

As police files into Madeleine's disappearance are opened, we can also reveal how:

Kate McCann was given a Do-It-Yourself guide to policing by UK cops after Portuguese police failed to find any clues themselves.

Local cops accused the McCanns of shedding crocodile tears just hours after their daughter was snatched.

The Portuguese police officer assigned to them as a family liaison officer criticised them for "reacting negatively to the work of this police force" and became irritated by Gerry's frequent emails.

The 30,000-page dossier reveals how the Tapas 7 decided not to go back to Portugal for a "reconstruction" in May this year because Portuguese police would not give them reassurances they would not be arrested.

The group were baffled as to why police were calling them back for the re-enactment a full year after Madeleine went missing, and demanded to be told how it would help the inquiry.

In an email to police chief Paulo Rebelo in April, the McCanns' friend Rachel Oldfield wrote: "We are still very uncertain of the motives in organising such a re-enactment.

"We feel we would be making ourselves and our families extremely vulnerable by returning."

The friends also hit out at Portuguese detectives' aggressive questioning when they were re-interviewed in the UK.

An email from Russell O'Brien and his wife Jane Tanner said: "The thrust of the... questions seemed only to focus on Kate and Gerry's culpability.

"After a year of lies, accusations and intrusion, I am sure that Mr Rebelo can appreciate our revulsion at what Kate and Gerry have been forced to endure."

The shocking state of the Portuguese investigation is laid bare in the police files, which reveal that British authorities gave Kate a police manual when she became increasingly desperate for ideas to find Madeleine. The technique book gives step-by-step instructions on solving crimes and was handed to the McCanns by British experts.

She desperately bombarded Portuguese police with suggestions on how to further their investigation. The GP even had to tell detectives to take blood samples from the twins in case they had been drugged by Madeleine's kidnapper - something Portuguese police had not thought to do. But they dismissed her ideas as "bizarre".

In his own statement, Inspector Ricardo Paiva, the Portuguese family liaison officer assigned to Kate and Gerry, said: "I noted certain strange behaviour on the part of the couple who were gradually reacting negatively to the work of this police force.

"I was repeatedly told by Kate - three months after Madeleine's disappearance - that the police should do blood analysis on the twins." Insp Paiva also said he became irritated by Gerry who would email him every lead the family received in the hunt for Madeleine.

He said: "Mostly they contained information of little credibility."

Inspector Jose Roque also accused frantic Kate and Gerry of faking tears in the first few hours of the hunt.

He said: "After the search I noticed an unusual situation. The parents were kneeling in their bedroom and they were crying. However, I did not see any tears despite the fact they were making sounds identical to crying."

 

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Lori Campbell, Madeleine McCann, News of the World, Ross Hall

I spotted Maddie's tell-tale eye / I was too afraid to grab her

I spotted Maddie's tell-tale eye
Exclusive
Ross Hall
10 August 2008
The News of the World

New sighting brings hope to Gerry & Kate

A VITAL new witness in the hunt for Madeleine McCann has told cops: "I saw Maddie. I know it was her-I saw the unique blemish in her eye."

Businessman Trevor Francis is certain he spotted the missing five-year-old in Venezuela just WEEKS ago. Because of the remarkable eye detail, Gerry and Kate McCann regard this as one of the most significant sightings.


********************************


I was too afraid to grab her
Exclusive
Ross Hall
10 August 2008
The News of the World

Witness was sure restaurant girl was missing; Maddie but was fearful of causing a scene

THE British businessman who swears he spotted Madeleine McCann in the Caribbean just weeks ago has told of the haunting moment he saw the tell-tale blemish in her eye.

In a dramatic statement to police back in the UK yacht skipper Trevor Francis, 64, said the girl was with three women in a restaurant on the Venezuelan island of Margarita.

He recalled: "Her eyes met mine as I walked past and that's when I saw the little blemish in her right eye-it was like a little fleck."

And he added: "I wanted to grab her or shout out her name and see what reaction I would get.

"But I was afraid to do anything and cause a scene... a huge ruckus would have erupted and it could have made things worse.

"I decided to get a good look to make sure it was her so I could come back to England and report it."

Unlike all other reported sightings, fresh witness Trevor is the FIRST to get a clear view of the unique blemish matching Madeleine's eye.

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell last night said the detail of his description was very significant.

He added: "The investigation team are looking into this seriously. The eye makes it potentially more serious than other sightings."

Our revelation climaxes a week in which the Portuguese police case files
were released, highlighting reported sightings across the world since Madeleine went missing from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz a year ago. Many have already been discredited or ruled out.

Pretty

But now the McCanns' private investigators are making urgent enquiries into the Margarita connection. Caribbean islands are on a regular sailing route from Portugal

Divorced dad of two Mr Francis, 64, built and owns a nursing home in Worthing, West Sussex, but spends most of his time on his five-bedroom yacht Northern Seas based in Margarita.

On a recent trip home to check on business interests he made a detailed hand written statement to Sussex cops revealing he's certain he saw Madeleine on May 16 this year in the Lugar de Equenter restaurant in the town of Porlamar.

"I was in there having some lunch," said Trevor. "There was lots of light and nothing to obstruct my view.

"The door opened and three females with a little girl came in. They sat down at a table opposite me about 20 feet away. At first I did not take any notice as I was having trouble with my order. Then I glanced back and noticed the little girl was white with fair hair.

"There are sometimes white children in Venezuela but not as fair as this child. She really stood out. I was transfixed.

"She was the absolute image of the missing Madeleine McCann with chin-length straight fair hair, about four years old, a pretty girl.

"What I noticed most prominently were her eyes-they were big and staring. I shuffled in my seat so I could see 'Madeleine' clearly. I didn't pay much attention to the three women because I was concentrating on the little girl.

"However from what I saw I would say that they were all of Spanish/South American origin.

"Female '1' I can describe as being heavily built, dark short bobbed hair. Female '2' had bleached platinum blonde hair, with a slim build.

"The third had long black hair, she was heavily built. They were late 30s to early 40s. They weren't very pretty. They seemed to be local women as they didn't hesitate at finding a table when they came in and they seemed to know the waiters. One of the women was trying to feed the girl what looked like some sort of pasta dish.

"Although the girl looked healthy and well cared for, she was very sullen looking and refused to eat anything. Something just didn't fit. She looked unhappy and out of place.

"The women were talking amongst themselves and at the little girl. I couldn't understand, they were speaking in Spanish.

"The little girl wasn't saying anything, I watched her for about 20-30 minutes and decided to get a close look as I left the restaurant. Then I was four to five feet away." That was the dramatic moment Trevor spotted the tiny eye blemish. He said: "I haven't been in England for all of the press coverage and updates about Madeleine McCann but I have seen photos of her on the news. From what I saw that day I am about 85 per cent certain that it was in fact Madeleine McCann."

The eye blemish - often referred to as the "mark of Madeleine"-has formed a key part in the campaign to highlight her disappearance. It is played up prominently on posters and videos. It is actually what doctors call a coloboma-or defect-of the iris. Figures suggest it occurs in only about 0.007 per cent of the population.

Witness Trevor's son Ben, 22, of Worthing told us last night: "My dad is a very serious, credible and intelligent man. He's not the sort of person who would make things up. And he'd certainly never lie about something like this." Meanwhile, dozens of specialist police were drafted into Brussels yesterday after a bank security guard reported he saw a girl resembling her on Monday. He spoke out after case files revealed Scotland Yard had warned the child could have been stolen to order for a Belgian paedophile gang.

As detectives studied the CCTV pictures from the KBC bank in the rundown immigrant Molenbeek district, other officers trained in search techniques joined the hunt.

A spokesman said: "We're taking this very seriously. House-to-house searches have started, and numerous people are being spoken to. We're determined to establish exactly who the little girl in the CCTV images is."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Clarence Mitchell, Lori Campbell, Madeleine McCann, News of the World, Ross Hall

Wear couple told police: We saw Maddie

Wear couple told police: We saw Maddie
Sunderland Echo   
07 August 2008
Tim Booler

A Sunderland couple told police they saw Madeleine McCann 28 hours after she disappeared.

Richard and Susan McCluskey reported seeing a "lifeless" child of about Maddie's age being carried by a drunk-looking man who was with a distressed woman, who they were "almost certain" was her mum Kate.

The Portuguese case files, released this week more than a year after the youngster disappeared, showed that dad-of-three Mr McCluskey made the claims in a second statement a number of months after the alleged sighting in the Algarve.

Portuguese police investigated the claim, and believed the couple were Ukrainians with a blonde daughter of Maddie's age.

Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry, from Leicestershire, denied having any involvement in the disappearance, and had their "arguido" official suspects status lifted last month.

The potential sighting of Maddie by the McCluskeys, from South Hylton, was one of many reported to Portuguese police.

They were all investigated but came to nothing.

However, Mr and Mrs McCluskey said they have never had any response to the information provided in their statements, and would like to have been told it had been eliminated to give them peace of mind.

Their account of what they saw and said in police statements has never been published.

The Sunderland holidaymakers were in the resort of Alvor, about 20 minutes drive along the coast from Praia la Luz, where the McCann family was stating.

Mr and Mrs McCluskey were on their way back to their apartment from an Irish bar in the early hours of May 5, 2007, when they saw a white Transit-style flatbed truck stop in the middle of the road.

Mr McCluskey, 62, said a man got out and staggered about 200 yards to a gate, carrying a child of about three to four years old over his left shoulder, and that there was "no movement at all" in the youngster.

They were aware a child was missing in the area and thought the situation was strange so took down the van registration, with Mrs McCluskey, 50, writing it on her hand before they found some paper.

As they were doing so a woman ran towards the van, "clearly in distress".

Mr McCluskey told the Echo she looked like actress Faye Dunaway and added: "She was white as a ghost and shaking", and did not reply when asked if she needed help.

In a police statement he said a Portuguese couple came by and said the man and woman acting strangely had earlier been in an argument.

He reported the van's details to police in Portugal, and only made a statement after being contacted by Northumbria Police after getting home to Sunderland.

Mr McCluskey said he was also contacted by Interpol to provide a drawing of the area as described in his statement.

On September 12, he gave a second statement at Farringdon Hall Police Station, which read: "The events of the past week or so, with the McCanns being very much in the news, have triggered my memory in relation to the incident.

"In my original statement I described a distressed female who ran down a road towards a white van I had described.

"Having viewed news footage of Mrs McCann I am now almost certain she is the female I described as being in a distressed state.

"I say this because of her slight build, high cheekbones and her eyes and hairstyle."

He added: "I've agonised for days over whether or not to contact police about this because it is a terrible thing to accuse somebody of.

"It had just not crossed my mind that the child's parents could in some way be involved in her disappearance."

Also in his second statement, made after watching news coverage of Kate and Gerry McCann returning to Britain from Portugal, Mr McCluskey added: "Another thing which has played on my mind is the coverage of Mr McCann walking off the aeroplane holding one of his young children.

"The way he was holding the child over his left shoulder reminded me of the man carrying the child from the white van in Portugal.

"Although I could not describe the male I'd seen in Portugal because he had his back to me, it was the particular way Mr McCann held the child that made me think."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Madeleine McCann, McCluskey

I saw 'Maddie' too

7 August 2008
The Sun
Lucy Hagan in Amsterdam and Veronica Lorraine in Praia Da Luz
Additional reporting: Antonella Lazzeri


HER EYES TOLD ME IT WAS HER SAYS HANNIE
SECOND SIGHTING OF TOT IN AMSTERDAM

A second possible sighting of Madeleine McCann in Amsterdam was revealed last night.

Pensioner Hannie Weichmann said she saw a little girl with an anxious woman near her home in the Dutch city days after Maddie vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal.

Hannie, 71, believed a crude attempt had been made to disguise the child by cutting and dyeing her hair, giving her a badly-trimmed fringe and some red locks. But she said: "Those eyes...I knew it was her."

Hannie spoke 24 hours after released police files revealed Amsterdam party shop worker Anna Stam spoke to an English girl who called herself Maddie.

She was with an odd couple and told 41-year-old Anna: "They took me from my holiday." She said of the woman with her: "She is not my mummy."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Antonella Lazzeri, BBC, Madeleine McCann, Robert Murat