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The former M&S worker called police after
seeing the snatched toddler with 'gypsy' in Spanish
supermarket Mercadona |
A BRITISH expat based in Spain is ‘100 per cent sure’ she saw missing
Madeleine McCann in a supermarket on the Costa del Sol.
The former M&S sales assistant, 63, is adamant the young girl is the
missing Briton after seeing her with a man she describes as looking like
‘a gypsy’.
Yvonne Tunnicliffe, who has lived in Spain for six years, made the
sighting while shopping at a Mercadona store in Alhaurin el Grande in
2009.
The grandmother has only now come forward, after reading about
increasing suggestion that the toddler might have been snatched by a
gypsy gang while on holiday in Portugal in 2007.
“My whole body shook when I saw her, she looked just like her daddy
(Gerry),” Tunnicliffe told the Olive Press newspaper.
“I’m certain it was Madeleine, I wouldn’t even say I’m 99 per cent sure,
I’m 100 per cent sure.
“She had mousy blonde hair in scruffy plaits, very fair skin and looked
about seven or eight, which is how old she would have been now.”
Tunnicliffe contacted police a week after the sighting and was visited
by detectives who immediately took her back to the store to view CCTV
footage.
But police were informed by the store’s manager that footage was only
stored for one week and had subsequently been destroyed.
So convinced was she of the sighting, she was unable to sleep for much
of the week and finally drew a number of sketches of both the girl and
man for police.
Fighting back tears, she told the Olive Press: “It really upset me and I
couldn’t stop thinking about it and why I hadn’t gone to the police
straight away.
“It was Christmas and we had friends over. I kept getting sidetracked.”
On the sighting she said: “The girl’s demeanour bothered me. I don’t
think she belonged to the man because she didn’t look anything like him.
“He had dark, curly hair down to his neck and was wearing a distinctive
bullring-type earring.
“He sounded Portuguese and was certainly not from Alhaurin.”
Tunnicliffe claims the girl – who was wearing a pale blue top and
trousers – did not look Spanish.
“It disturbed me for a long time and still upsets me thinking about it
now,” an emotional Tunnicliffe added.
When contacted by the Olive Press, a Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed:
“It’s an open investigation and any information received will be
reviewed and considered by detectives.” |
