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From sky news

'New Photo Looks Like Madeleine'
Updated: 10:53, Wednesday September 26, 2007

A recent photo taken in Morocco showing a young girl appears "on the face of it, to look like Madeleine", according to the spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann.

Clarence Mitchell told Sky News that, even if it was not the missing child, the dramatic development took people away from "speculation and ill-founded gossip".

The image was taken by a Spanish tourist in Zinat in northern Morocco on August 31 and shows a light-skinned, blonde-haired child being carried on an elderly woman's back.

The tourist, Clara Torres, downloaded the picture onto her computer and discovered a "chilling likeness" to the missing girl.

Mr Mitchell said he could not comment on the McCanns' personal reaction to the photo because of "bitter experience" over previous sightings that came to nothing.

"You can imagine the emotional rollercoaster that causes Gerry and Kate each time this sort of information comes in.

"But it is an image and it does appear, on the face of it, to look like Madeleine and it clearly raises some very fundamental questions."

The photo, which Mr Mitchell said the McCanns' legal team had passed the Portuguese police, is now being scrutinised by Interpol experts.

"Even if this picture turns out not to be her, it is to the good because it brings people's minds back to finding Madeleine and taking them away from all the speculation and ill-founded gossip that has surrounded this in recent weeks."

Mr Mitchell referred to other "sightings" in Morocco - two in Marrakech in early May and one from a woman on the coast more recently.

"If it's not Madeleine, there's certainly a child in the area that looks very much like her. That's a matter for the investigating authorities."

He said the McCanns had been encouraged by the approach of the Moroccan police when they visited the country in June as part of their publicity drive. Officials had sent their daughter's photo to every health centre in the country.

"They said, if she's in our country, we will find her."

The spokesman added that Mr and Mrs McCann clung to the belief their daughter was alive.

"Each day that passes without her body being found actually means it's a day closer to her being brought home alive and well