Here we go again - Sighting of Madeleine in New Zealand

Queenstown police have joined the hunt for missing British girl Madeleine McCann.

Last updated 05:00 04/01/2013





Detectives and police staff started investigating on New Year's Eve after a report of a possible sighting by a retailer who became suspicious of a man and a young fair-headed girl who bore a striking resemblance to Madeleine.

Senior Sergeant John Fookes, of Queenstown, confirmed police were alerted to the possible sighting late in the afternoon on New Year's Eve.

The 70 police officers patrolling the resort on New Year's Eve were told to keep an eye out for the man and little girl but they were not found, Mr Fookes said.

Detective Sergeant Brian Cameron said they had a couple of leads to follow, but were unable to act on one until yesterday because of public holidays.

There has been contact between the Metropolitan police in Britain and Queenstown police, he said.

The Southland Times was alerted to the sighting and investigation on New Year's Eve but delayed publishing the story until police had the opportunity to follow up on the lead in case publicity scuppered the investigation.

Three-year-old Madeleine went missing from the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007 while on holiday with her parents Kate and Gerry, and siblings Sean and Amelie.

The woman who reported the sighting told The Southland Times she immediately thought of Madeleine when the young blond-haired girl came into her store with a man on New Year's Eve.

"She had the same eye defect as Madeleine. Only a very small percentage of the population have that and I was just staring at it the whole time to the point I forgot what they had purchased.

"As soon as they left, I looked up an image online to see which eye

it was and it was the same eye," she said.

Madeleine has a blemish on her right eye called a coloboma of the iris. Figures suggest it occurs in about 0.007 per cent of the population.

The woman said neither the girl nor the dark-haired man she was with spoke while being served.

After the pair left her store, the woman alerted a passing police patrol.

"My only reason for alerting anybody is because if my little girl was missing and if someone on the other side of the world was seen who bore any considerable resemblance, I would want it ruled out."



The woman also called the 24-hour Find Madeleine hotline but was unable to reach anyone to report the possible sighting until New Year's Day.

"They thanked me and said they would be in touch if they needed anything else."

As a result of the call to the hotline, British police have also been in contact with the woman.

Police have been given clear CCTV footage taken from several angles inside the store.

It is not the first time a possible sighting of Madeleine has been reported in New Zealand. In December 2007, a CCTV video taken from The Warehouse in South Dunedin showed a girl who looked like the missing child being led into the store by a man. More than two years later, Dunedin police identified the girl and confirmed she was not Madeleine.

Last week, Kate McCann posted an update on the findmadeleine. com website thanking everyone who still held her daughter in their hearts and encouraged the public to continue to be vigilant.

"As Madeleine's parents, we won't be able to rest until we know that all that can be feasibly done to find her, and the person who took her, has been done."

"We are very aware that without public help it will be virtually impossible to find Madeleine."

In April, Scotland Yard released a photograph of her as she might look today as a 9-year-old.

At the time, the force also urged the Portuguese judiciary to reopen the case into Madeleine's disappearance.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who led a Metropolitan police review into the case, said he wanted the case reopened to establish what happened and ultimately to bring closure by solving the case.

"We genuinely believe there is a possibility she is alive," Mr Redwood said.

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- © Fairfax NZ News



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Someones getting desperate again,is it because of the two court cases coming up that we have this sighting tripe now.

and DID Andy Redwoodd really say he thinks Madeleine is alive,i dont think so,but at least he is in agreement that the case needs to be re-opened.

so it looks like the ball is in the mccanns court.

New Zealand being where Charlotte Pennington, the very, very helpful nanny came from.
Whose father worked at the same hospital as Healy.

Good old New Zealand connection there again, it's nearly as frequent as the Exeter connection!!

Smokeandmirrors wrote:Good old New Zealand connection there again, it's nearly as frequent as the Exeter connection!!

This time, the very first time! the 'eye defect' was mentioned in the sighting. In fact it was the deciding factor.

Well, it was gone in May 2011 and right back in the age advanced pictures in the SY documentary Panorama documentary of April 2012.

The other thing is that she wasn't blonde in that picture.

I wonder how long before the McCanns decide that the sighting is so credible that they pack up and move back to New Zealand to look for Madeleine.

Sigh!

How long will this charade go on for? How long?

That was quick..........just a few hours later and surprise the little girl was not Madeleine....



Queenstown sighting not Madeleine McCann

Last updated 09:31 04/01/2013

A girl spotted in Queenstown and thought to be Madeleine McCann is not the missing British child, police say.

Detectives had been investigating a New Year's Eve report of a possible sighting by a Queenstown retailer who became suspicious of a man and a young fair-headed girl who bore a striking resemblance to Madeleine.

Senior Sergeant John Fookes confirmed police were alerted to the possible sighting late in the afternoon on New Year's Eve.

However, this morning, they said they had identified the young girl seen in Queenstown and were 'absolutely satisfied' she was not the missing schoolgirl.

Police did not give details of the Queenstown girl, other than to say it was not the first time people had confused the two girls.

Seventy police officers patrolling the Queenstown area on New Year's Eve were told to keep an eye out for the man and little girl reported by the retailer.

There has been contact between the Metropolitan police in Britain and Queenstown police.

Three-year-old Madeleine went missing from the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007 while on holiday with her parents Kate and Gerry, and siblings Sean and Amelie.

The woman who reported the sighting said she immediately thought of Madeleine when the young blond-haired girl came into her store with a man on New Year's Eve.

"She had the same eye defect as Madeleine. Only a very small percentage of the population have that and I was just staring at it the whole time to the point I forgot what they had purchased.

"As soon as they left, I looked up an image online to see which eye it was and it was the same eye," she said.

Madeleine has a blemish on her right eye called a coloboma of the iris. Figures suggest it occurs in about 0.007 per cent of the population.

The woman said neither the girl nor the dark-haired man she was with spoke while being served.

After the pair left her store, the woman alerted a passing police patrol.

"My only reason for alerting anybody is because if my little girl was missing and if someone on the other side of the world was seen who bore any considerable resemblance, I would want it ruled out."

The woman also called the 24-hour Find Madeleine hotline but was unable to reach anyone to report the possible sighting until New Year's Day.

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"They thanked me and said they would be in touch if they needed anything else."

As a result of the call to the hotline, British police had also been in contact with the woman.

Police have been given clear CCTV footage taken from several angles inside the store.

It is not the first time a possible sighting of Madeleine has been reported in New Zealand. In December 2007, a CCTV video taken from The Warehouse in South Dunedin showed a girl who looked like the missing child being led into the store by a man. More than two years later, Dunedin police identified the girl and confirmed she was not Madeleine.

Last week, Kate McCann posted an update on the findmadeleine.com website thanking everyone who still held her daughter in their hearts and encouraged the public to continue to be vigilant.

"As Madeleine's parents, we won't be able to rest until we know that all that can be feasibly done to find her, and the person who took her, has been done."

"We are very aware that without public help it will be virtually impossible to find Madeleine."

In April, Scotland Yard released a photograph of her as she might look today as a 9-year-old.

At the time, the force also urged the Portuguese judiciary to reopen the case into Madeleine's disappearance.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who led a Metropolitan police review into the case, said he wanted the case reopened to establish what happened and ultimately to bring closure by solving the case.

"We genuinly believe there is a possibility she is alive," Redwood said.



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Phew!

Then again, even a police denial did not immediately stop Clarence Mitchell from continuing to promote the Indian sighting IIRC.

Does anyone have a comprehensive list of sightings with dates?

It would be interesting to see the list and then compare it to other things going on simultaneously such as court cases, fund appeals etc.

I'm not in a position to look all this stuff up at the moment as I have a lot on my plate.

aquila wrote:Does anyone have a comprehensive list of sightings with dates?

McCann detective from Metodo 3, Antonio Jiminez Raso may have a list from the early days, he was the one accused of paying people in Morocco to claim that they had seen Madeleine, then calling over the journalists to report their stories. I believe that he has been released from prison for his part in a major drug smuggling operation now.

It would be interesting to see the list and then compare it to other things going on simultaneously such as court cases, fund appeals etc.

I'm not in a position to look all this stuff up at the moment as I have a lot on my plate.

Seriously, this would be a very good exercise but would take up a lot of time as you say. Maybe the McCann files would be the place to start

Case files - sightings parts 1 and 2
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And remember, that in a TV interview [cannot remember which one now] they were not able to mention ANY sighting, which they'd taken seriously.

I'm not sure if this is the clip you mean Chatelaine but it is the one where Gerry could hardly keep a straight face when asked for his feelings whenever there is a sighting.

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I wonder if the British tabloids will now run stomach-churning stories that the McCanns' hopes have been dashed again. Sick buckets at the ready!

Jean wrote:I'm not sure if this is the clip you mean Chatelaine but it is the one where Gerry could hardly keep a straight face when asked for his feelings whenever there is a sighting.

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I wonder if the British tabloids will now run stomach-churning stories that the McCanns' hopes have been dashed again. Sick buckets at the ready!

***
Thanks, jean, but no that's not the one I meant. I'll put in an effort tomorrow to find it.
But it was good to see this one again. Especially ... after I'd done myself a favour and bought the entire 3 seasons [39 episodes] of "Lie to me". Great series and very educational on minimal mimic expressions ... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Chateleine/Jean

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I think this is the one, an interview with Sandra Felgueiras. Listen around 31 minutes on in this compendium, where Gerry says in answer to a question about which sightings stuck in their mind, there was one or two sightings they looked at twice but when pressed couldnt remember which ones!

Eta The original full interview seems to have gone awol from youtube.

Inspectorfrost wrote:Chateleine/Jean

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I think this is the one, an interview with Sandra Felgueiras. Listen around 31 minutes on in this compendium, where Gerry says in answer to a question about which sightings stuck in their mind, there was one or two sightings they looked at twice but when pressed couldnt remember which ones!

Eta The original full interview seems to have gone awol from youtube.

***
Thank you. It's one of the most interesting interviews I know, but it's not the one I meant. Good to see it again, though ... And I am looking at minimal facial expressions again ... Gerry's are not exactly minimal, though ;-) If looks could kill there would have been one Sandra not with us anymore ...

The latest from New Zealand on the Madeleine sighting.

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Girl seen in New Zealand is not Madeleine McCann, police say
Posted on 01-03 at 20:15:03 CST

[As released by New Zealand Police]

Queenstown Police investigating a reported sighting of missing British girl Madeline McCann say they have identified the young girl seen in Queenstown on New Years Eve and are 'absolutely satisfied' that she is not the missing schoolgirl.

Detective Sergeant Brian Cameron declined to release any details of the identified child stating only that this was not the first occasion that someone had contacted Police remarking on the similarity between the two girls.

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Châtelaine wrote:

Inspectorfrost wrote:Chateleine/Jean

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I think this is the one, an interview with Sandra Felgueiras. Listen around 31 minutes on in this compendium, where Gerry says in answer to a question about which sightings stuck in their mind, there was one or two sightings they looked at twice but when pressed couldnt remember which ones!

Eta The original full interview seems to have gone awol from youtube.

***
Thank you. It's one of the most interesting interviews I know, but it's not the one I meant. Good to see it again, though ... And I am looking at minimal facial expressions again ... Gerry's are not exactly minimal, though ;-) If looks could kill there would have been one Sandra not with us anymore ...

Let me know if uou can think of amything else from the interview and I will
try find it

As for the sighting Rofl and yawn.........despicable to maddies memory at best

tigger wrote:New Zealand being where Charlotte Pennington, the very, very helpful nanny came from.
Whose father worked at the same hospital as Healy.

Interesting if true. Small world.

The PJ files have some 3000 entries re sightings all over the world.

Aspensos V - volume 1 to 14.

These are sightings up to the date that the case was shelved in 2008.

I'll have a look at the most publicised ones. Especially the Tongeren one in Belgium, where the public was holding its breath waiting for the DNA result and the parents flew off to Berlin without setting a foot in the town where their child might have been.

Something must be happening - Paolo Reis has returned and his fat mate Duarte Levy wont be far behind. I wonder if Levy will reprise his role as Coldwater ?

That was quick (supersonic speed in fact) - now you see it now you don't! Did the Kiwi have too much to drink?

aiyoyo wrote:That was quick (supersonic speed in fact) - now you see it now you don't! Did the Kiwi have too much to drink?

Well, if she did have a coloboma, that would rule her out!

I checked Daily Wail, Daily Mirror, they don't seem to have run it, times are changing.

tigger wrote:

aiyoyo wrote:That was quick (supersonic speed in fact) - now you see it now you don't! Did the Kiwi have too much to drink?

Well, if she did have a coloboma, that would rule her out!

I checked Daily Wail, Daily Mirror, they don't seem to have run it, times are changing.

Happy New Year Tigger!

It does not take away the question who is behind generating all these bogus and transistory sightings now and then, and for whose benefit?

Inspectorfrost wrote:

Châtelaine wrote:

Inspectorfrost wrote:Chateleine/Jean

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I think this is the one, an interview with Sandra Felgueiras. Listen around 31 minutes on in this compendium, where Gerry says in answer to a question about which sightings stuck in their mind, there was one or two sightings they looked at twice but when pressed couldnt remember which ones!

Eta The original full interview seems to have gone awol from youtube.

***
Thank you. It's one of the most interesting interviews I know, but it's not the one I meant. Good to see it again, though ... And I am looking at minimal facial expressions again ... Gerry's are not exactly minimal, though ;-) If looks could kill there would have been one Sandra not with us anymore ...

Let me know if uou can think of amything else from the interview and I will
try find it

As for the sighting Rofl and yawn.........despicable to maddies memory at best
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Thanks for the offer. But I've seen so many "amazing" interview that I lost count. And from this particular one I only remember that very embarrassing episode of not being able to name any sighting that seemed of interest. As I recall it is not in a bright studio setting, but a darker, smaller, more "intime" one, G&K facing camera, interviewer's back half turned to camera.

aiyoyo wrote:

tigger wrote:

aiyoyo wrote:That was quick (supersonic speed in fact) - now you see it now you don't! Did the Kiwi have too much to drink?

Well, if she did have a coloboma, that would rule her out!

I checked Daily Wail, Daily Mirror, they don't seem to have run it, times are changing.

Happy New Year Tigger!

It does not take away the question who is behind generating all these bogus and transistory sightings now and then, and for whose benefit?

Well, they have friends in NZ so would expect some enthusiasm there. We may expect another Amsterdam sighting any time.
India and Spain didn't really work and we can't roll out the swarthy gypsy father with the rebellious blonde girl and the un-motherly woman again.

Often the sightings describe a girl who clearly doesn't belong with the others around her, now there's a thought! I'm may be an abductee myself - I knew I was with the wrong family all along.....



Happy New Year to you too Aiyoyo!

Was this the interview where they can`t even remember any sightings of Madeleine?

HiDeHo has done a video around it.

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Woofer wrote:Was this the interview where they can`t even remember any sightings of Madeleine?

HiDeHo has done a video around it.

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***
Thank you, Woofer. That's the reaction that I remember, but not the setting. They may have blundered more than once ... I don't you like the headscratching ?
Anyway, cannot be clearer than this that they just never ever considered any sighting for obvious reasons.
Well done, HideHo!

Châtelaine wrote:

Woofer wrote:Was this the interview where they can`t even remember any sightings of Madeleine?

HiDeHo has done a video around it.

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***
Thank you, Woofer. That's the reaction that I remember, but not the setting. They may have blundered more than once ... I don't you like the headscratching ?
Anyway, cannot be clearer than this that they just never ever considered any sighting for obvious reasons.
Well done, HideHo!

This is the other one? [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (at 1.30 the sighting answer)

tigger wrote:[...]

This is the other one? [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (at 1.30 the sighting answer)

***
Very good video, Tigger, thank you. But no, 'tis not what I'm looking for.
Anyway, as I said before, what has been posted here now so far, is clear enough indication that they cannot remember, because they weren't interested, so there is nothing to remember ...