'Madeleine' CCTV woman not traced

Private detectives for the missing child's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, are desperately trying to find the woman, who was filmed with a blonde youngster in Brussels last Monday.

The couple have been shown CCTV footage obtained by The Sun newspaper, but are unable to say for sure whether or not the girl is Madeleine, family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said.

Now experts in the US hired by the McCanns are analysing the security camera clips to enhance the quality of the images and extract further clues.

A series of CCTV pictures show the woman, of North African or Arabic appearance, walking down the street hand-in-hand with the girl in the western Molenbeek suburb of Brussels.

A security guard at a branch of KBC Bank overheard the child say to the adult in English, "Can we go back now?" The Sun reported.

Mr Mitchell said: "It's been taken as seriously as anything else we've had all the way through. We're not ruling it out. Gerry and Kate are very good at saying 'that's definitely not Madeleine' quite quickly. In this case they're not sure. Until we have a better resolution (image) and have a bit more information on what was or wasn't said, we won't know."

It is understood there have been a series of potential sightings of Madeleine in Belgium reported over the past week.

A source close to the McCanns' investigators said it was surprising that the woman captured on CCTV had not contacted Belgian police if there was an innocent explanation.

The source said: "If the woman's an immigrant it may be that she hasn't seen the publicity. We do wonder why she hasn't come forward yet."