I agree with most of the posters here about the picture. It proves very little the quality is so low it could anybodies child.
I hope it proves to be her for the sake of her family but if I were them I wouldn't get too excited. Even experts say there are "thousands" of young girls fitting Madeleine's description who might resemble her in the right conditions.
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Expert cautious over 'Madeleine' photo A facial recognition expert has warned that it will be very difficult to prove whether Madeleine McCann is the young girl in a photograph taken in Morocco.
Dr Rob Jenkins, a psychologist at Glasgow University, agreed the picture - taken just over three weeks ago by a Spanish tourist in Zinat in northern Morocco - looked "similar" to images of the missing British child.
But he cautioned that there were "thousands" of young girls fitting Madeleine's description who might resemble her in the right conditions.
Dr Jenkins said: "It is very difficult to look at two photographs and say 'that's the same person' when it's someone we're not familiar with.
"There is a sense in which we're familiar with Madeleine's face now because it has been all over the papers and on the TV, but it tends to have been the same few photos repeated.
"We have not had that much exposure to all the ways her face can move. Although we are familiar with particular images of her face, we are not really very familiar with her face itself - that is a critical difference."
Dr Jenkins also warned that there is likely to be "a good deal of wishful thinking" among people believing the missing girl is in the new photograph.
"When we are unfamiliar with faces, we are very bad at accurately saying these two faces are the same person. That is a reason to be cautious.
"When a camera is used, small changes in lighting, pose and expression can have a big effect on the appearance of the image, but they don't tell you anything about who the person is.
"You can end up with photos of different faces being more similar than photos of the same face."
These problems are compounded with a poor quality image, as in the case of the picture taken in Morocco.
"It looks as if this is a Caucasian girl, about the right age, build and complexion.
"But there are thousands of girls who match that description," Dr Jenkins said: "We are really, really good with familiar faces. It would be interesting to see what the reaction of the McCann family is."
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Source:
The Daily Telegraph