THE parents of Madeleine McCann are facing more anguish as bogus age progression pictures of their daughter have been posted on social media.
Kate and Gerry are warning the new fake images were neither "commissioned nor endorsed" by them or Scotland Yard’s Operation Grange team, which is still investigating her disappearance.
In a rare move the official Find Madeleine website, supported by the McCanns, has been prompted to highlight the rogue activity.
As Kate and Gerry face the agonising 12th anniversary of their daughter’s abduction in just three days, the Facebook page promoting the hunt for Madeleine is appealing to the public to ignore false snaps and view only the official images previously released by experts.
A close friend of the McCanns from Rothley, Leicestershire, urges: "We have received questions about a new age-progression image that was circulated on Instagram. This image was not commissioned by nor endorsed by Gerry and Kate or Operation Grange.
"Any other accounts sharing age-progression images are not from us or Operation Grange. Thank you for helping in the search for Madeleine."
They share links to their official social media accounts, hoping real images could prove the key to helping solving the world’s biggest ever missing child mysteries.
Former GP Kate, 51, and eminent heart doctor Gerry, 50, have suffered a recent torrent of abuse in the wake of streaming giant Netflix’s newly-released documentary re-examining the facts of Madeleine's disappearance from a holiday apartment Portugal’s Praia da Luz in May 2007.
CAMPAIGN OF HATE
Trolls have targeted them after the programme aired false claims from former Portuguese police officers that they were involved in their eldest child’s accidental death and faked her kidnap.
Supporters of the McCanns slammed the new pictures as "shameless and so wrong".
A year ago the McCanns were urged to have new age progression pictures created to show how their daughter – who would now be 15 – may have changed in adolescence.
Experts in America warned she could be “unrecognisable” from the last computer-generated image released of her as a girl of nine in May 2012 – seven years ago.
US forensic scientists suggest pictures of missing kids should be produced every two years.
But so far Kate and Gerry have hesitated in taking up their advice because the procedure is lengthy, costly and emotionally draining, their spokesperson Clarence Mitchell previously revealed.
FINAL LINE OF INQUIRY
Scotland Yard are still chasing "a final line or two of inquiry" into Madeleine's disappearance with a new government cash boost believed to be as much as £150,000 set to be approved. But cops have not yet been pushing the McCann's to update Madeleine photo in a last-ditch bid to help find her.
A family friend said: “If and when the Metropolitan Police advise Kate and Gerry that new images of Madeleine as a mid-teenager could aid their investigation they will strongly consider going through the process again.
"They’ve been reminded by experts in the US that new pictures really should be drawn up. If she’s out there, and her family hope and pray she is, there’s a chance she could have changed so much from the last image put out six years ago."
Madeleine is remembered around the globe as an angel-faced fair-haired toddler wearing a scarlet dress in an iconic picture. It was a favourite snap first released to the media by her frantic parents when she vanished from The Algarve’s Praia da Luz in May 2007.
They also shared the last-ever known photo of their daughter clutching tennis balls during a lesson on court on her doomed family holiday .
Mr Mitchell said: "Those two picture of Madeleine are etched on everyone’s minds. Some people are still searching for that cute little girl dressed in red or with her arms wrapped around tennis balls. At times whenever there are potential sightings they are conjured up of a young Madeleine. It’s as if time’s stood still."
Seven years on from the last computer generated image of her created by FBI experts in America and first unveiled by the Metropolitan Police in London she could still look different.
Mr Mitchell added: "Twelve years is a long time when a child goes from being a toddler to a mid teenager and her features could have changed.The only real tell tale sign is the distinctive blemish in her right eye.
"Kate and Gerry will heed the advise of the police, who they remain extremely grateful to, and will consider new images if needed. No one ever thought she would be missing for so long."
Source: Read Full Article