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MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann

THE SUN (front page): “MADDIE SEEN IN FRANCE”

“Eye-defect girl in cafe” – Why do they stare, daddy?

DAILY MIRROR: “I SPOTTED MADDY AT CAFE IN FRANCE”

A picture of Melissa.

“’This is so significant because the girl noticed the blemish in the eye and it’s on CCTV for first time’ - McCANN FAMILY SPOKESMAN CLARENCE MITCHELL LAST NIGHT”

This is the Mirror’s “EXCLUSIVE THE HUNT FOR MADELEINE”

To France:

“The little girl was spotted in a motorway service station cafe by student Melissa Fiering, 18, who insists she clearly saw the distinctive flaw in her right iris”

Says Melissa: “My friend and I had music playing loudly out of our mobile phones and this little girl was dancing to it. It was only when I looked closely at her I realised it was Madeleine. She had a very thin face and her blonde hair had been cut much shorter, down to her jaw. But it was her”

Why so certain?

“I looked in her eye because I’d seen on TV that Madeleine’s got a defect in her right iris and I saw this girl had it. I could hardly believe my eyes but I knew for sure it was Madeleine. I called out her name and she looked up at me - she obviously recognised it”

Obviously. Dancing with a small child and then you shout out a name and she looks at you…

“But when I called out ‘Madeleine’ the man she was with got worried and started dragging her away from the queue”

The man with Madeleine is described as a “dark-skinned man, who was possibly Algerian”. Blonde girl with dark-skinned man. Like her?

What did Melissa do when he was spotted, this swarthy man?

“As he dragged the girl away he threw a white coat over her and pulled a woollen hat from his pocket and jammed it on her head. Melissa adds: ‘He didn’t say a word but as they got to the door he prodded the girl in the back. I tried to take pictures on my phone but I only got one and it was all blurred. I ran outside after them but they’d vanished”

Vanished?

“WE HAVE THE GUN THAT KILLED RHYS”

Rhys Jones was killed in Liverpool, shot by a youth on a bike

“Rhys’s mum Melanie, 42, and dad Stephen, 45, who have received a message of sympathy from Madeleine McCann’s family, issued a statement for tomorrow’s six-month anniversary of the shooting”

Why do we know this?

The message says: “We are still struggling to come to terms with the loss of our beautiful son Rhys. The pain we have had to face every day has been magnified by the poignancy of occasions like Christmas and Rhys’s 12th birthday. The last six months have been a living nightmare. All we want is justice for our son”

Rhys Jones is murdered in Liverpool. Rhys Jones was 11 years old. His parents are not suspects

DAILY EXPRESS: “MADELEINE IN NEW ‘SIGHTING’ AT RESTAURANT”

Dutch woman. A restaurant? Not a therapist. A student

The Dutch student is “100 per cent certain” she saw Madeleine McCann in a roadside restaurant in southern France

Says Melissa: “I called out ‘Madeleine’ and she looked up. The man with her was about six feet tall, with black hair, a black leather jacket and several days growth of stubble. He put on her coat and hat and bundled her away”

She adds: “I can’t stop thinking about it. I wish I had stopped that man. I wanted to pick her up, I am sorry I didn’t do that”

LIVERPOOL DAILY POST: “Madeleine McCann ’spotted’ in Southern France”

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: “Student claims to have sighted Madeleine McCann in France”

A reader comments: “Is this kid going to replace Waldo?”

ASSOCIATED PRESS: “French police investigating an alleged sighting of Madeleine McCann in southern France have determined it was not the missing British girl.

A police official says a Dutch tourist reported that she may have seen McCann at a roadside restaurant. Examining closed-circuit video footage, the investigators spotted a man and a young girl who resembled McCann, but determined it was not her.

Posted: 21st, February 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann. Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0