Sunday Mirror

Jane Blakie: I saw Madeleine McCann...but they ignored me

By Gary Anderson 7/03/2010


Portuguese police ignored a British tourist when she reported sighting Madeleine McCann in France, the Sunday Mirror can reveal.

Jane Blakie claimed a child who was the "spitting image" of the missing youngster had stared straight at her, adding the youngster had seemed to be saying: "Help me" with her eyes.

The girl was said to be with a couple "strikingly similar" to an artist's impression of a man and woman seen with a Madeleine lookalike in Amsterdam.

British police sent Mrs Blakie's report to their Portuguese counterparts, but no action was taken. Mrs Blakie saw the child in July 2008 - 14 months after Madeleine vanished - at a campsite in Alsace, eastern France.

She told police: "The girl just stood staring at me. The look in her eyes conveyed a feeling of 'Help me'."

Gerry and Kate McCann said the "upsetting" release by Portuguese police this week of files listing dozens of possible sightings of their missing daughter "jeopardises the search".

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