Portuguese police disregard Madeleine sighting

Malaysia News.Net
Wednesday 3rd March, 2010

New Zealand police have confirmed that that an investigation was launched in December 2007 when a security officer reported a suspected sighting of missing British child Madeleine McCann.

They have said a file was created when a young girl was seen with a man leaving a retail store, seven months after Madeleine McCann vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal.

The file was sent to Interpol, but Portuguese police in charge of the investigation did not ask their New Zealand counterparts to follow it up, according to senior police in new Zealand.

A closed circuit image has now been released which shows images of a child who was said to look like Madeleine McCann, being led by a man.

The British newspaper the Daily Mail has reported the man's behaviour aroused the suspicions of a female security guard in a shop in Dunedin, and she approached the girl to try to determine her accent and inquire about her identity.

The girl said her name was Hayley, but the security guard believed she was actually Madeleine and reported the incident to police.

Portuguese said the report was not relevant and only one of a series of sightings from around the world.

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