First picture of three-year-old Bosnian girl mistaken for missing Madeleine

Tea Dedic, three, was found by detectives after the Daily Mail provided them with the number plate of the car she was apparently seen being bundled into.

The blow to Madeleine's parents follows similar disappointments in June when there were reported sightings of her in Malta and in Belgium.

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Then in August a Spanish tourist took a photograph of a blonde child in Morocco.The child was later identified as Bouchra Benaissa, a three-year-old local girl.

Madeleine's family said at the weekend they were treating the Bosnia sighting, by an Irish tourist, as credible.

He said he believed he had seen her outside a church in the town of Medugorje in southern Bosnia, a Roman Catholic shrine.

He claimed that she shouted "I want my daddy" in English as she was pushed into the back of a Bosnian-registered VW Golf by a couple who appeared to be locals, the tourist added.

But he said police showed no interest in what he reported. After returning home to Fermanagh in Northern Ireland he contacted the Find Madeleine campaign.

At the beginning of the week Bosnian detectives insisted no report had been made to them - but when the Mail passed on the registration number, they acted and traced the car to an address in Ljubuski, a town seven miles from Medugorje.

Tea's father, dentist Slavko Dedic, said he and his wife had gone shopping in Medugorje and had put Tea in their car and driven home when she threw a tantrum.

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Officers said they were satisfied with the explanation.

They said Tea did not speak English, and suggested that the Irish tourist, who has remained anonymous, must have simply been mistaken.

A police source told the Daily Mail: "After being given the car registration plate by the Daily Mail, Bosnian police went within the hour to an address in Ljubuski - and found the VW Golf.

"Tea is very blonde. Without a doubt that is the child. The family are happy to issue a picture of Tea to make perfectly clear she is not Madeleine McCann."

Spokesman for Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate, Clarence Mitchell, thanked the Daily Mail for helping to trace the car.

There have been a string of possible sightings of Maddie, but none has proved positive and some have been established as total red herrings.

In June, there were reported sightings of her first in Malta and then in Belgium - all proved false leads.

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In May, September and earlier this month a number of people claimed to have seen the little girl in Morocco.

A Spanish tourist took a photograph of a blonde girl with a group near the northern town of Zinat just south of Tangiers on August 31.

The child was later identified as Bouchra Benaissa, a three-year-old living with her family in an area so remote that they had not heard of the Madeleine case.

Earlier this month the spotlight again returned to Moroco when a Spanish doctor said she had seen Maddie in the coastal town of Fnideq.

Last week the hunt switched to Bosnia and the McCanns' private detectives followed the sighting to investigate.

• Gerry and Kate McCann will have to wait until next year to learn what evidence police have gathered about the case, lawyers warned.

There had been hopes that secret files could be opened this week, because a six-month deadline under Portuguese law has now passed since Robert Murat was named as the first official suspect in the case.

Those hopes have been dashed by the decision to give the case 'special complexity' status.

The McCanns will have to wait to learn why they were named official suspects and what evidence the police have against them.