Police ignores possible McCann sighting

The files included security camera footage of a girl ˝very like˝ Madeleine being led into the supermarket by a ˝portly man in shorts˝.

WELLINGTON, March 3, 2010 (AFP) - New Zealand police on Wednesday defended their lack of action over a possible sighting of missing British girl Madeleine McCann, saying they were never asked to do anything.

Police inspector David Campbell said all details of the December 2007 sighting were passed to Interpol and no instructions came back for a follow up investigation.

A girl matching the description of the then four-year-old Madeleine was seen entering a supermarket in the southern New Zealand city of Dunedin five months after Madeleine disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal.

Details of the incident emerged Wednesday when British newspapers reported that a dossier from Portuguese police, containing a series of sightings from around the world that were never investigated, had been released to them after they applied to a Portuguese court.

The files included security camera footage of a girl "very like" Madeleine being led into the supermarket by a "portly man in shorts".

The man's behaviour aroused the suspicions of a security guard who approached the girl to establish whether she was British.

Although the girl said her name was Hailey, the security guard was convinced she was Madeleine and informed the police.

Campbell, the regional police commander, said police took the footage of the child -- who had the appearance of Madeleine McCann -- and the family with her, and forwarded it to Interpol.

"The lead jurisdiction, in this case Portugal, directs how the case progresses and has not asked NZ Police for any follow-up to date," Campbell said, adding that the New Zealand file remained open.

The dossier released to British newspapers also showed that information which police in the United States, Europe and North Africa considered important was also discarded.

Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate were reported to be "gutted" and "incensed" that their private investigators were not given access to the information, The Daily Mail reported

"There are instances where information which we think is very credible and worthy of information has not been actioned," Kate McCann said.