Police question beret-wearing man after Madeleine McCann 'spotted' in central Sydney

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Police in Australia have questioned a man after a he was spotted with a girl thought to be missing Madeleine McCann.

Officers in Sydney challenged the middle-aged man after a member of the public alerted them to a possible sighting of the four-year-old.

Staff working at a station stop in central Sydney followed the man for several minutes until police arrived on the scene.

He was wearing a black beret and carrying a little, blonde girl who bore a close resemblance to missing Maddie.

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'Spotted': Madeleine McCann has been missing since disappearing on holiday with her parents in May last year

After a short chase, three police officers caught up with the man at a German bakery.

But police said the sighting turned out to be a false alarm.

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"There was a possible sighting," a police spokeswoman said.

"It's been checked. The police obviously took it seriously enough to check."

A worldwide, nine-month search for the missing four-year-old was launched last year after she went missing in May while on a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

The hunt has seen a number of false alarms, most notably the alleged sighting by a tourist of Madeleine in Morocco.

The report was supported by a blurred photograph, but eventually turned out to be a local girl on her mother's back.

Hunt for Maddie: The tourist picture which appeared to show Madeleine McCann. It was eventually revealed this was not the British toddler, but Morrocan girl Bouchra Benaissa with her mother

 

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