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Above: age-advanced images of what Madeleine McCann may have looked like at age 6. The image on the right is said to represent her should she have been taken to a hot country, but surely fair hair would go fairer in a hot country, though I guess this may be a suggestion that Madeleine's hair could be dyed.
For the past few days, certain UK journalists have been going a bundle on the latest reported sighting of Madeleine McCann, in Leh, a town in the Kashmir region of India. The first newspaper to break the news was the Chandighar Tribune on July 23rd.
Leh, July 23
High drama prevailed in the busy Fort Road market of the city last night when three persons identified a six-year-old girl as Madeleine McCann, a British girl who went missing while on a holiday in Portugal in 2007.....
....Last night, a British woman saw a French woman with her Belgian husband roaming in the market with a girl who looked like Madeleine. She immediately informed the British police and the Leh police. The local police has taken the passports of the suspects for verification.
For some reason, it took the UK press a few days to catch up, but on July 28th, the Daily Mail reported that DNA tests were being carried out on the child who was spotted in the Indian market. That article seems to have disappeared now, but some of it was saved:
Kate and Gerry McCann's team of private investigators say they are working with police in the northern city of Leh.The link to the article ( here) will now take you to a story where Kate and Gerry McCann say the child is definitely not Madeleine. (More on that later)
Today, The Sun reports that Kate and Gerry's 'hopes are dashed,' but it's still reporting that DNA tests are being carried out on the child...
Indian detectives arrived and confiscated passports belonging to the mother and father, a Belgian man and French woman. DNA tests are being carried out to establish the girl's identity.
....which is really quite strange since yesterday, in the Indian newspaper, News One, local police in Leh denied all knowledge.
Srinagar, July 28 (IANS) The Jammu and Kashmir Police Thursday denied media reports that a British girl who had reportedly gone missing in Portugal four years ago was found in Leh.The report in the Daily Mail also said the parents of Madeleine McCann are, however, awaiting the results of a DNA test on the girl.
Talking to some media persons here Thursday evening, Abdul Gani Mir, deputy inspector general of police (DIG), said: ‘We have not recovered any missing foreign girl from Leh.’
‘There is no question of carrying out a DNA test since we don’t have the girl. Our field staff in Leh have confirmed that no such girl has been recovered by them.’
‘A British media report said that a girl missing for the last four years from Portugal had been sighted in Leh district of the state. We have no such confirmation from either the police or the district administration,’ the DIG said.
Earlier, a British newspaper report had said a four-year-old British girl, who was allegedly kidnapped while on a holiday in Portugal in 2007, has reportedly been tracked down to Leh city in India’s Jammu and Kashmir state.
Kate and Gerry McCann’s team of private investigators said they were working with Leh police who were alerted after a British woman spotted a girl she thought to be Madeleine. The abducted girl would now be eight years old.So, how come the McCanns' private investigators were, according to Clarence Mitchell, as reported in the Daily Mirror, on July 28th, liaising with Indian authorities? Which authorities? The police know nothing about the child or any DNA tests being conducted!
Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "Our private investigators are aware of the reports from India over the weekend about a possible sighting of Madeleine.And just in case, Clarrie should at some point allege that he never mentioned anything about the police. here he is being interviewed on ITV news, on July 28th.
"We are liaising with the Indian authorities over the incident and await the results of the DNA test."
Transcript from 0.25.
So, back to The Daily Mail and that story about Kate and Gerry's 'dashed hopes.'
Clarence Mitchell: It was reported to local police, which was absolutely the right thing for people to do under the circumstances and the police say that they..emmm...they checked the parents' identities. The parents denied that they were anything but the natural parents...ummm..and the police have been looking into it..."Which police, Clarence? The Chief of Police for the region states that they know nothing about this: no child, no DNA tests. So, they haven't checked out any parents and they're not looking into it. Where did you get this from, Clarrie, and who were your PIs liaising with, because it doesn't appear to have been the local police in Leh.
So, back to The Daily Mail and that story about Kate and Gerry's 'dashed hopes.'
But after studying a photo of the child, the McCanns announced this afternoon that the girl was not their daughter.So, let's get this story straight, according to Clarence Mitchell and the UK press. A bunch of tourists spotted a child in a market in Leh, India. One of the tourists grabbed the child, whom they were all convinced was Madeleine McCann. The local police accosted the parents, took their passports and took swabs for DNA testing from the child.
Spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the couple were 'certain' the girl was not Madeleine, who would now be eight-years-old.
He said: 'Kate and Gerry do not believe the child seen in India was Madeleine. They have seen photographic evidence and concluded that it was not her.
