An alleged sighting of Madeleine McCann has been reported in the United States.
Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing on May 3, 2007, during a family holiday in Portugal.
Now an unnamed woman has come forward to say she informed the authorities of her sighting in May 2009, but was only contacted when she reported it again two months ago.
Madeleine McCann has been missing since 2007
The woman exclusively told The Sun she believes she saw the little girl in a Spanish restaurant in Montgomery County, Maryland, accompanied by a blonde woman and two men – one of whom was “scruffy-looking with a foreign accent.”
She said: “I saw this little blonde girl looking just like Maddie. I’ve never felt so strongly about something.”
There have been numerous sightings of Madeleine, who would now be ten, throughout the years.
Her parents Gerry and Kate insist the search for her is very much ongoing and have praised the British police's continuing efforts to find their daughter.
In 2007 photos of a blonde child being carried in a sling by a woman in Morocco prompted excited speculation Madeleine had been found.
Bushra Binhisa - who was mistaken for Madeleine - with her parents and her family's registration certificate
It soon emerged the little girl - named Bushra Binhisa - was the daughter of an olive farmer of Berber extraction.
In July a British woman spotted a youngster “bearing a remarkable likeness to Madeleine” at a market in the northern Indian town of Leh.
There have also been reported sightings in Cyprus, Portugal, Belgium and France, but none have produced any firm leads.
It was later confirmed the voluntarily provided sample did not provide a match.