by VANESSA ALLEN and SAM GREENHILL

Last updated at 10:42 26 September 2007

The woman who took a picture in Morocco of a small girl with striking similarities to Madeleine McCann said today: 'It sent shivers down my spine'

Interpol detectives were today scrutinising the photograph of the child, who can be seen in the clutches of a group of Moroccans.

The grainy image, taken only four weeks ago, shows a blonde youngster being carried on the back of a dark-skinned woman in traditional North African dress with companions carrying their worldly possessions along a dusty roadside near Tangiers.

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It is the fourth reported sighting of the missing four-year-old in Morocco, the first two having come only six days after she disappeared.

Her anguished parents insisted they would not raise their hopes until forensic analysis had strengthened or ruled out suspicions that it could be her.

The existence of the picture was revealed on a Spanish radio station by the woman who took it near the northern town of Zinat, just south of Tangiers, on August 31.

Spaniard Clara Torres and her partner spotted the likeness after taking what they thought would simply be a colourful shot of Moroccan life.

They were immediately suspicious that a blonde, pale-skinned, European-looking child should be with the group of wanderers. When they heard about other sightings in Morocco they emailed it to the Spanish national police, who forwarded it to Interpol.

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It will be analysed by experts, possibly from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre who have used state- of-the-art facial recognition computer software to study thousands of pictures sent in by holidaymakers who were in Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished on May 3.

Mrs Torres told the Spanish radio station COPE: "As soon as I took the photo we were struck by the little girl, who was very blonde.

"The truth is we said the name of the girl, but we couldn't believe it could be her, it was just impossible that it was her."

She added that it was not until the couple arrived back in Spain and examined the picture that they realised it could have been Madeleine.

"It sent shivers down my spine. Either it's her or she's got a twin," she said.

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She explained how the photo was taken: "I was with my family and my partner, we were going from Chaouen to Tetuan. On the road, in a town called Zinat, I was taking photos of everything we saw, and we saw a group of people and took a photo.

"As soon as I took the photo we were struck by the little girl, who was very blonde. I was on a trip in Morocco and took many pictures, just random ones. This was one of those pictures. I remember being struck by her and even mentioned the name Madeleine to my boyfriend.

"But I didn't think too much of it at the time because although it is uncommon it is not unusual to get blonde people in that part of the world. Also, I didn't think Madeleine could be in Morocco.

"It was only when I got home and saw the news on Monday about two possible sightings of Madeleine in Morocco that I remembered the picture and went through my photos. When I saw it for the second time and focused in on the child's face, I realised it could be her.

Mrs Torres said they called their local police in Albacete, near Valencia, who came and took copies.

She said she went to the British embassy yesterday and spoke to the McCann family's legal team.

She said: "The police told us they would take 10 to 15 days to get the results back from the photos so I took it to the British Embassy in Madrid yesterday to hurry things along. I felt it was too important to wait around."

The first reported sighting in Morocco was by Norwegian tourist Mari Pollard, who said she saw a girl who looked like Madeleine with a man at petrol station in Marrakesh on May 9.

A British holidaymaker later reported seeing a youngster with a strong likeness on the same day outside the Ibis Hotel in Marrakesh, which is virtually opposite the garage.

The third sighting came around three weeks later when a Spanish woman contacted Portuguese police to say she had seen someone she thought looked like the missing girl in Zaio, in the north of Morocco.

She said she saw a "sad and scared" blonde girl being dragged across a street by a woman in a Muslim headscarf.

She told how she and her husband were driving when the Muslim woman walked out into the road in front of them, "walking very fast and dragging a young blonde girl with her".

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"I saw her face very clearly from close up and I know it was Madeleine," she said. "She looked very sad and scared, and was wearinga skirt and a sleeveless top and her blonde hair tied up."

The woman, who refuses to be named, called police from her home in Melilla that night.

Detectives are said to have dismissed the sighting saying they believed she was already dead.

Kate and Gerry McCann believe Portuguese police have virtually given up the hunt to find their daughter. The couple have brought in private investigators to search for any trace of her.

But senior police and judicial figures have now warned that the McCanns and their team of ex-SAS advisers could face prosecution if they interfere.

In Portugal private detectives are banned from working on criminal investigations by obstruction of justice laws.

A Policia Judiciaria official said: "If they come here they will be running a serious risk of being arrested."

Carlos Anjos, head of the Portuguese police federation, said the investigators were part of "another McCann strategy" to divert attention away from themselves.

"This can only be another diversion tactic from the McCanns." Possible sightings have come in from all over the world in the months since Madeleine vanished, including Belgium, Malta and Australia.

The McCanns, both 39, travelled to Morocco in June to appeal for help in the hunt to find Madeleine. Mrs McCann has told friends she believes there is a strong chance her daughter could have been taken into Africa, which is easily reached from Portugal and Spain.

Mr McCann's brother John said of the latest Moroccan sighting: "We hope the Portuguese police will investigate this and that it will prove more profitable than their current line of inquiry."

Jose Herrero Arcas, the Spanish government's representative in Albacete, said: "The national police received a photograph by email taken by a young Spanish couple who believe it shows Madeleine McCann.

"The quality of the photograph is not very clear, and it was taken from around 200 metres away.

"However, the national police are taking the claim seriously enough to have sent it on to their colleagues at Interpol."

• Friends of the McCanns faced fresh allegations yesterday after it was claimed that sniffer dogs had found the 'scent of death' on one of them.

The same police dog which reacted to Mrs McCann's clothes - first causing suspicion to fall on her - was alleged to have smelled 'death' on one of the friends who had dinner with the couple the night Madeleine vanished.

Police sources briefed a Portuguese newspaper that two police dogs from South Yorkshire, trained to detect corpses, human remains and microscopic traces of blood, had reacted to some items of clothing.

Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell denied categorically that any such procedure had happened. Detectives are writing to British police asking them to re-interview the seven friends.

The newspaper did not reveal which of the friends' clothing was meant to have triggered the reaction. Police in South Yorkshire refused to comment.