Has Madeleine McCann Been Found? DNA Tests Taken From Little Girl In India

Has Madeleine McCann Been Found? DNA Tests Taken From Little Girl In India

PA

Could Madeleine McCann have been found? The parents of missing Madeleine McCann have fresh hope in the search for their daughter - but now face an agonising wait for the results of a DNA test after a young girl suspected of being their daughter was spotted in India.

Madeleine went missing while on a family holiday to the Algarve in Portugal in 2007.

PA Family photo of three-year-old Madeleine

A girl fitting her description was spotted by a British woman and two Americans in a market in the Himalayan city of Leh.

The tourists were so convinced it was Madeleine, who would now be eight years old, that they tried to take the girl away from the Belgian man and French woman who insist they are the child's parents.

Madeleine was a few days from her fourth birthday when she went missing. She would be eight now.

Police have taken swabs from the youngster so that a DNA test can be carried out and a team of private investigators working on behalf of Kate and Gerry McCann are in contact with them.

It has also been reported that the passports of the girl's family have been confiscated by the Indian authorities until the results of the DNA test have come back.

A spokesman for Leh police said: "It all depends upon the evidence like DNA for which help from Madeleine's parents and the British police was required."

PA

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for her parents Kate and Gerry McCann, said: "Our private investigators are aware of the reports from India over the weekend about a possible sighting of Madeleine.

"We are liaising with the Indian authorities over the incident and await the results of the DNA test."

Gerry and Kate McCann recently launched a book about how their daughter disappeared with proceeds from the book, entitled Madeleine, going towards the funding of their search for their daughter.

PA

Despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.

The official Portuguese inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance was formally shelved in July 2008, although private detectives employed by the McCanns have continued the search. The Prime Minister David Cameron recently announced a review of the original investigation.

Could it finally be her, after four years of searching?

Update here.

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