A REPORTED sighting of Madeleine McCann in southern France has been officially ruled out.
Gerry McCann revealed that French police have established that the young girl seen by a Dutch tourist in Montpellier last month was not his missing daughter.
He said it was "disappointing" that it took so long for this to happen after "widespread"
media reporting of the sighting.
Madeleine vanished from her family's holiday flat in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 last year.
Over the past 10 months witnesses have claimed to have spotted the missing girl all over Europe and North Africa, but so far every tip-off has proved fruitless.
The latest sighting was reported by 18-year-old Melissa Fiering, who said she saw Madeleine at a service station restaurant in Montpellier on February 15.
She told a Dutch newspaper she was certain it was the British child because she had a distinctive mark in her eye and looked startled when her name was called.
Initially there was doubt about whether CCTV footage from the restaurant was clear enough for French police to determine whether or not the child was Madeleine, but they have now ruled out the possibility. In his latest blog, Mr McCann wrote: "We did hear that the French have officially ruled out the reported sighting of Madeleine in Montpellier."
The full article contains 231 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
