Madeleine McCann: Belgian police investigate new sighting made earlier this week

Madeleine McCann: Belgian police investigate new sighting
Detectives are investigating a reported sighting of Madeleine McCann in Belgium made earlier this week.


By Nick Allen in Brussels
Last Updated: 5:12PM BST 08 Aug 2008

A bank security guard in Brussels said she saw a blonde, blue eyed girl who bore a striking resemblance to the missing girl in a KBC branch in the west of the city on Monday morning.

She was brought into the bank by a woman of North African origin, according to the security guard.

The sighting follows more than 100 of Madeleine in Belgium over the last 15 months.

Johan Berckmans, a spokesman for the West Brussels police department, said: "We are taking it seriously and we are investigating. A person working in the bank reported it.

"We have several teams looking for her. We have to be certain."

Belgian police are scouring CCTV images from the bank to see if the girl was captured on camera.

The security guard reported it on Thursday after it had emerged publicly that Scotland Yard received intelligence suggesting Madeleine was snatched to order by a Belgian paedophile ring.

Belgium's missing children unit has also been informed.

It has now received 108 witness reports relating to Madeleine since her disappearance in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3 last year.

A senior Brussels police source involved in the hunt for Madeleine said: "Of course we get a lot of useless sightings from crackpots but this is from a very credible person, a bank employee.

"We are looking into it thoroughly. The girl apparently looked just like Maddie and she seemed to be with this woman but slightly apart from her.

"The employee thought there was something a bit odd. We will find out."

A series of other sightings of Madeleine were reported in Belgium in the days after Madeleine vanished.

Line Compere, 31, claims to have seen her on a tram in the city 12 days after she disappeared.

She saw a girl wearing plastic beach shoes who was dancing on the tram and was with an Eastern European couple.

On May 23 last year a little girl was spotted asleep on a train from Brussels to Antwerp with a balding man.

Another sighting of a girl strikingly similar to Madeleine was made in a shop in Mouscron in west Belgium on June 2 last year. The girl was with an English-speaking woman.

Another sighing in Tongres, near the Dutch border last year has been discounted.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/2524473/Madeleine-McCann-Belgian-police-investigate-new-sighting.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I think maybe people are getting a little paranoid over there now.News that madeleine might have been seen in a certain area will no doubt encourage more people to ring in if they see a child who resembles her to.I suppose its only natural though...they wouldn't want to over look something that could be a major breakthrough in this case.

i really hope it is her and she comes home soon

I expect this is a case of mistaken identity, but at least it has been reported and taken seriously, the bank will have CCTV footage too, if Madeleine is out there to be found she will be found by someone reporting something they think is not quite right. I am never quick to judge such sightings, my fear is if we do this then we may put the very person with genuine information off.

I find it a little strange that a person would take Madeleine into a bank on the day the files were released though with all the publicity that was being generated, so Madeleine was in people's minds again.

I would imagine they will trace this person if she used a bank teller or even an ATM because from CCTV footage they will be able to tell which teller she used at the exact time and this may be recorded on the transaction, same with an ATM.

Did this person report this on Monday or did she report it now?

As usual I will hope that this is a true sighting while fearing that it isn't.

It seems the reason they are taking this particular sighting sooo serious is because it WAS REPORTED BEFORE the news of all this Amsterdam stuff. The report was made about the sighting before the investigators had the files and therefore is a a lead that they are investigating with urgeny...good I hope it proves to be a major breakthrough.

got this a minuit ago.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday August 9,2008
By John Chapman

The hunt for Madeleine McCann focused on Belgium last night after it emerged that police are investigating a fresh sighting.

A bank worker in Brussels reported seeing Madeleine accompanied by a woman of North African appearance on Monday morning.


The witness is believed to be a security guard who was operating the bank’s CCTV system. Detectives were last night poring over images taken from the cameras at a branch of the KBC Bank.


Police are said to be particularly interested in this latest sighting because it was reported to them before files were released by Portuguese police earlier this week in which further sightings in Belgium were documented.


It will also offer renewed hope to Gerry and Kate McCann after it was revealed that there have been more than 100 similar reports from people claiming to have spotted the youngster since she was snatched.

I pray to God this is true however I find it strange that abductors would be out in the open with her. This information should be kept secret not in newspapers informing the abductor/s. This little girl's life is at stake.

I agree with you mandz

Me and littleminx have been talking about the possibility that these sightings are only being released the same way others were in the begining and also, maybe, becasue they have been used as decoys.And maybe to also raise awareness to Madeleine's plight.

I have been thinking about it though and have also wondered if the reason we have all come to the conclusion that the sightings wouldn't be credible (the abductors probably wouldn't go out side with her etc etc ) is her is due to the fact that in the time madeleine as been missing we haven't seen one sighting or piece of evidence that has provided cops with a major breakthrough...therefore people have drawn a conclusion that she would be hidden or kept inside all the time etc etc. When infact she might be right there under the noses of those assuming she isn't there.

There as been a reported sighting of Madeleine in Amsterdam area,at a bank, before the files were made available and before the other Amsterdam sightings were evident to the mccanns.So imo this particular sighting would be of interest to me as the guy reporting it didn't report it with the knowledge that madeleine could be in the area. He wasn't prompted by a catalog of other sightings in the area.

After all this time, the people with her would think it fairly safe to go out. They are in Belgium and probably not to know what was about to hit.

The best thing about this sighting, is that if they can identify the girl as Madeleine, then they will be able to match up the time from the CCTV with the transaction processed from the correct terminal (I assume banking in Europe is like it is in Aust and it is all on line, that is the teller enters it straight into the computer) and they will know who it is.

While I personally dont think that the sightings from the files will lead anywhere, I do agree they should be investigated. But this one here, made before the latest info went out there is much more promising. And I do wonder if this one turns out to be true, whether any of the other Belgium or Dutch sightings were true. The trouble with the old sightings, is there is no way to verify anything after so long. that is why nothing will come of them.

They will get either a positive, or a real discounted, over this sighting. Thank goodness for CCTV and a vigilant security guard.

I was pleased to see released that the guard at the bank had reported this sighting before the news came out of the files, this is encouraging.

As I said in 11.13 post on this thread, that fact that it is a bank has CCTV footage can actually go some way to corroborating this person's account as those checking the footage will be able to see which teller this person used, from the time of the footage, they will be able to check against the tellers records of transactions, so details will be able to be gleaned and also even if the person with the child only entered the bank to use the ATM, they will be able to check records against the ATM time and the CCTV footage time and still obtain details.

This could be a major breakthrough in this case, which then makes me think, if this was so, then we would not know about it now, for obvious reasons it would have been kept quiet until the checks could be made. The fact that we do know about it, means it has probably been checked and found to be an innocent mistake.
I hope so, because I sure would not want a valuable lead like this being messed up because it got into the papers.
If it was checked and the details found to be bogus or something does not check out then this would of course be interesting too and could start a series of events off.

If someone is holding Madeleine, at some point they will make a mistake. I have always believe that Madeleine will be found and she will be found because a member of the public is vigilant, I just hope to God that it is very soon.

HI all,
This is very encouraging news indeed....I pray that this is the lead they are waiting for.
I can only believe that if there is truly a God, he will give these people the strength to continue this search till the end. I hope the ending is a happy one.