Private detectives hired by the parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann want to trace a woman with an Australian or New Zealand accent, it was reported today.
The woman, described as a “Victoria Beckham lookalike” was seen by two British men in Barcelona in Spain three days after the little girl went missing from Praia da Luz in Portugal.
The woman said something to one of the men which has convinced the McCanns’ investigators that she might have information about Madeleine, according to investigators.
Former detective inspector Dave Edgar appeared alongside McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell appealed to the public for help at a press conference in central London this morning.
Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, did not attend the news conference.The two men first saw the woman when they were drinking in bars in Barcelona’s Port Olimpic Marina at about 2am on May 7th, 2007.
The woman was said to be well-dressed but appeared agitated and kept walking up and down outside the El Ray de la Gamba restaurant bar, apparently waiting for somebody.
One of the witnesses, a 41-year-old British man, had a brief conversation with her in which she apparently thought he was the person she was scheduled to meet.
Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3rd, 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby.
Despite a massive investigation by Portuguese and British police and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.
It emerged this week that Leicestershire Police have spent nearly £750,000 investigating her disappearance.
PA