Reuters AlertNet Lite - Girl spotted in Belgium not missing Briton-reports

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Girl spotted in Belgium not missing Briton-reports

18 Aug 2007 12:45:07 GMT
Source: Reuters

BRUSSELS, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Belgian police have identified a young girl thought last month to have been missing British four-year-old Madeleine McCann as the daughter of a Belgian man, news reports said on Saturday.

A woman alerted police last month after spotting a girl she believed was Madeleine at a roadside cafe in the eastern Belgian town of Tongeren with a Dutch-speaking man of about 40 and an English-speaking woman of around 25.

Belga news agency said prosecutors had confirmed the girl was not Madeleine, but Sjanneke, the four-year-old daughter of a Belgian man from the town of Hoogstraten.

It said the girl, who had lived for the past year with the man's ex-wife in the town of Riemst, had been at the restaurant with him and a female friend from Poland.

"The Polish woman spoke English," Belga quoted Guy Duchateau, police chief and spokesman of the Tongeren police, as saying. "The young girl was ill at ease because she did not act like her mum."

Police and prosecutors could not immediately be reached directly for comment.

Madeleine went missing on a family holiday to Portugal on May 3, since when there have been a number of possible sightings from Morocco to Argentina. None has been confirmed and Portuguese police have said she may be dead.

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Last updated:Sat Aug 18 12:45:12 2007