This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/6749131.stm
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
Police probing Madeleine letter | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A Dutch newspaper has received an anonymous letter and a map claiming to show where missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann's body is buried. | |
Police in Portugal said they were investigating the information. | |
The location identified is about 15km (9.3 miles) from the Algarve resort Madeleine disappeared from on 3 May. | |
The letter strongly resembles another received by the De Telegraaf paper last year, accurately pinpointing where two missing Belgian girls were buried. | |
Portuguese police spokesman Olegario de Sousa told reporters: "If a place is identified, we check it out." | Portuguese police spokesman Olegario de Sousa told reporters: "If a place is identified, we check it out." |
Studying similarities | |
The Madeleine letter pinpoints a dirt track north of Odiaxere in the Algarve. | |
Beside a cross and two question marks, the sender has written "vermoedelijke vindplaats Madeleine" - the place where Madeleine can probably be found. | |
According to the letter-writer, the girl's body is to be found to the north of the road marked on the map, six or seven metres away from the road. | |
Mr de Sousa confirmed Portuguese police were aware of the map and were investigating. | |
Dutch police are studying similarities between the new letter and one received by De Telegraaf pointing to the whereabouts of Belgian step-sisters Stacey Lemmens, seven, and Nathalie Mahy, 10. | |
The girls were murdered in June 2006 after they disappeared from a late-night fair in the town of Liege. | |
On the day that the letter was received, police found their bodies at the spot indicated on an enclosed map. | |
A convicted paedophile, Abdullah Ait-Oud, is now on remand awaiting trial for murder. | |
The Telegraaf believes the letter comes from the same sender because the phrase "vermoedelijke vindplaats" was also used in the tip-off letter last year about Stacey and Nathalie, BBC correspondent Alix Kroeger added. | |
Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, disappeared while on holiday with her parents in Praia da Luz on 3 May. | Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, disappeared while on holiday with her parents in Praia da Luz on 3 May. |
It is believed she was abducted from a holiday apartment while her parents ate at a nearby restaurant. | It is believed she was abducted from a holiday apartment while her parents ate at a nearby restaurant. |
Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have travelled across Europe in an effort to find her. | |
The couple were also featured in an appeal for information on BBC One's Crimewatch. |