Madeleine: Victoria Beckham Lookalike Hunt


An e-fit of a "Victoria Beckham lookalike" private investigators want to trace in the hunt for Madeleine McCann has been released.

She was reportedly seen by two British men in Barcelona, Spain, three days after the girl went missing from Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007.

The woman said something to one of the men which convinced the McCanns' private investigators she might have information about Madeleine, who was aged three when she vanished.

The e-fit was issued by McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell and David Edgar, the retired detective who is now leading the search.

The pair gave details of the development at a press conference in London.


Mr Mitchell said the two men first saw the woman when they were drinking in bars at the city's Port Olimpic Marina at about 2am.

He said she was well-dressed but appeared agitated and kept walking up and down outside the El Ray de la Gamba restaurant bar.

One of the witnesses, a 41-year-old British man, had a brief conversation with her.


Mr Mitchell would not reveal what she said for operational reasons, but said it was "potentially significant" to the little girl's disappearance.

He said the woman was then seen having a "heated conversation" with another person in Spanish in a nearby bar. She then wandered off towards a hospital.

The witnesses said the brown-haired woman was aged between 30 and 35, slim, about 5ft 2in tall, and described as "a bit of a Victoria Beckham lookalike".

She is said to have had an Australian accent, and is also thought to speak fluent Spanish or Catalan.

Mr Edgar went on that the witnesses had not come forward earlier for "personal reasons" and denied they were drunk, even though they had visited a number of bars on the night

He said the conversation took place about 72 hours after Madeleine disappeared - and it was possible that Madeleine could have been taken to Barcelona by boat in that time.

Mr Mitchell said Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate "were not surprised" when told about the woman but were not "getting their hopes up or down".

But he added: "In this case they are hoping this might prove as significant as Dave believes."

It emerged this week that Leicestershire Police have spent nearly £750,000 investigating Madeleine's disappearance.


SKY NEWS.CO.UK

The latest is a "Victoria Beckham lookalike" seen in Barcelona, Spain, three days after the girl vanished.

The mystery woman said something to two British men which convinced the McCanns' private investigators she might have information about Madeleine.






Jane Tanner, one of the friends on holiday with the McCanns, described seeing a man walking with a child in his arms away from the holiday apartment.

The suspect had greasy, straggly hair, and was wearing a purple or maroon top and beige chinos.





Gail Cooper, from Nottinghamshire, described seeing an olive-skinned man with straggly, collar-length hair acting suspiciously in Praia da Luz in the weeks before Madeleine's disappearance.

Melissa Little, a police-trained artist, produced two sketches of the man.




The second image shows the man walking and wearing a safari jacket and light-coloured trousers.

It bears a striking resemblance to the picture of the man seen by Ms Tanner.


In July last year, Portuguese authorities shelved their investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.

The next month, thousands of pages from the official police files were released.

They included this e-fit picture drawn up from the description of a possible witness.




The documents included a second computer-generated e-fit.

It is believed that both men were investigated and discounted from the inquiry.



In May this year, details of a new suspect were released as part of a TV documentary to mark the second anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.

The artist's impression shows a pock-marked and "very ugly" man who appeared to be watching the apartment, where the little girl was staying with her family on the day before she vanished.




The images are based on the account of a British woman who was on holiday in Praia da Luz when Madeleine went missing.

She saw the man, who had pitted skin and a large nose, twice in the days before the little girl disappeared.

I read in a poo paper that his 'personal reasons' where that the mrs would be suspicious of him talking to a woman!!
To me, the safety of a child is much more important than the wrath of a insecure woman!! But as i say i read this in the star so who knows?

Victoria Beckham lookalike, someone should have gone to specsavers

Bet posh is chuffed

OMG, it's the resemblance is incredible:

This is getting fkin silly now, they need to make up their mind and release all the information that should be made public, instead of holding back stuff, merely to keep it in the headlines in the longterm.

Had all these images been available 2 years ago, they may have found.

Personally, I think she's brown bread now, and a lot of child abduction experts agree with that outcome.

Sadly, i agree. The mcanns need closure

yeah it's been going on for too long and the cost to keep it open is too high. the parents need to face the reality of things, accept them and move on.

People disappear of the face of the earth all the time. Not just runaways but 'ordinary' people who get up, go to work and are never seen again. Obviously its differant when its a little girl. I dont see how she can remain 'hidden' if she's alive. Mind you, remember the little boy, ben who disappeared in greece or turkey, about twenty years ago-he never been found either.

Possibly, she may be dressed differantly now to fit in with another culture too. But those eyes? So distinctive.
The not knowing must be hell on earth for the mcanns.
I still dont get why it took this new witness TWO YEARS to come forward. Lets face it his wife knows he was chatting to a woman now dusent she?
He should of done the rìght thing back then, too late now, i feel. How does that make his wife feel? I'd be straight off the divorce courts-being married to a fella who would rather keep schtum about a major potential lead to find a child than face a bit of gum flapping from me?! Nah. He's portrayed her [implicitly] as a right dragon-that too, how humiliating!! It dusent sit right with me.