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A forensics expert has claimed he could solve Madeleine McCann's disappearance in just a week if police release vital DNA evidence.

Dr Mark Perlin believes complex samples hold the key to finding out what happened to the missing girl.

And although the Met Police have struggled to get answers from forensic evidence, Dr Perlin believes his Pittsburgh-based Cybernetics team is capable of cracking the case.

The UK's Forensic Science Service has 18 samples from the investigation, which Dr Perlin wants released.

He told the Daily Star: "I think the FSS did generate reliable DNA data and their methods were proven laboratory methods, some of which they even innovated.

(Image: PA)

“But they didn’t know how to properly interpret the data that they had generated."

And he continued: “It would take us one to two weeks, depending on the data, after we receive it to provide some initial preliminary report.”

Dr Perlin said he has offered to help the Metropolitan Police, but has not received a report.

Madeleine vanished from an apartment in the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.

She was on holiday with her family at the time of her disappearance.

(Image: PA)

Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, left her sleeping with her other siblings while they had dinner at a restaurant.

A recent Netflix documentary has put the missing girl back in the spotlight as her parents still search for answers about how she hasn't been seen in nearly 12 years.

A top British detective, Colin Sutton, has backed Dr Perlin's call - describing it as a real "game changer".

He previously told Nine's podcast investigation that if data cannot be interpreted correctly then there may be "tremendous injustice - of guilty people not being convicted, or innocent people staying in prison.

"What is needed is an objective and accurate interpretation that can scientifically resolve the DNA."

So far the Met Police are yet to directly respond to Dr Perlin's offer, according to reports.

A Met Police spokeswoman said: "The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remains ongoing. We are not providing a running commentary."