DNA to quash Madeleine suggestion (From Andover Advertiser)
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DNA to quash Madeleine suggestion
1:15pm Wednesday 6th February 2013 in National News © Press Association 2013
Madeleine McCann went missing in Portugal just before her fourth birthday in 2007
A DNA sample from a girl in New Zealand has been sent to British police to quash the suggestion that she could be Madeleine McCann.
Scotland Yard said that the girl is not a line of inquiry and it has requested the sample to confirm statements made by New Zealand police that the girl is not Madeleine.
A spokeswoman said: "This is not a line of inquiry, but just to corroborate what police in New Zealand are saying we have requested DNA."
It was reported in New Zealand media that the girl has been mistaken for Madeleine more than once, because she has a similar mark in one of her eyes.
Detective senior sergeant Kallum Croudis told Fairfax Media: "Police will be sending a DNA profile to British police to confirm the identity of a girl who has been mistaken for Madeleine by a member of the public."
Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents dined at a tapas restaurant with friends nearby.
Spokesman for the McCann family Clarence Mitchell said: "It is entirely a matter for Scotland Yard and the New Zealand police, and Kate and Gerry (McCann) won't be commenting."
