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Madeleine's parents face more heartache
The parents of Madeleine McCann faced more heartache on Thursday after it emerged CCTV footage of a little girl in the south of France is "almost certainly not her".
- Evening Standard
- Published: 01:22 February 22, 2008
London: The parents of Madeleine McCann faced more heartache on Thursday after it emerged CCTV footage of a little girl in the south of France is "almost certainly not her".
Hopes of finding the missing four-year-old were raised when a Dutch student said she spotted the child at a service station close to the city of Montpellier on Friday.
Melissa Firing, 18, claimed the child even responded when she called out "Madeleine" to her.
A "tall, swarthy" man who was with her put a hat on the girl's head and immediately bundled her away, according to Firing, who said the girl had the same distinctive fleck in one eye as Madeleine.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, described the sighting as "encouraging" because Firing described details about the girl which made the sighting "more worthy than most". But the Standard can reveal French detectives have been poring over the footage at the Criminal Research Institute, in Rosny-sur-Bois, north of Paris - and their initial verdict is that it is not Madeleine.
A source close to the French inquiry said: "The police have looked at the film of the man and the girl who could indeed resemble little Maddie, but their judgment is that it almost certainly isn't her."
Scaled down
The police are so sure of their verdict they have passed it on to the public prosecutor in Montpellier, recommending the search for the girl is scaled down.
The source added: "To be absolutely certain they're going to go through the CCTV footage again, but there appears no hope at all that it is Maddie."
Police also expected to contact the man caught on video yesterday after the licence plate of the car in which he drove the girl away showed up on the video.
Firing said she had not been able to scribble the number down, or even punch it into her mobile phone.
"The driver has been traced and will be visited," said the source. "This will clear matters up once and for all."
French police were already investigating allegations that young children, including babies, were being "sold" at auctions in car parks along the Mediterranean coast.
Since Madeleine went missing from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz last May there have been numerous apparent sightings of her across Europe and in North Africa, all of which have proved false. Mitchell said the McCanns, who remain official suspects, had been informed of the latest sighting, but were wary of becoming "emotionally committed" until they had seen the footage.
Firing, who lives in the Dutch town of Nijmegen but is a student in Barcelona, told the Hart van Nederland newspaper: "When I saw the little girl, I recognised her immediately. At first I could not believe it. I called the police but they kept me on hold. Finally they came and took the CCTV film."
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