ABOVE: How Madeleine McCann may look now

DETECTIVES searching for Madeleine McCann were last night probing 100 tip-offs to Crimestoppers that Brit police did not bother to investigate. 

The potential leads came via the crime-busting charity’s hotline, set up a week after the then-three-year-old vanished in Portugal five years ago.

They include details supplied by psychics who claimed to have had visions or dreams about Madeleine’s fate. 

For several months details of all calls were passed on to Leicestershire Police, the UK force probing the case.

But sources say the force was so swamped with information officers asked Crimestoppers to stop sending them details supplied by dreamers.

Crimestoppers have now handed the files over to Scotland Yard detectives reviewing the investigation under Operation Grange.

Senior officers say crank tip-offs should never be dismissed in case they contain snippets of real information or the call was made by someone involved in the crime.

The 100 abandoned leads come on top of 195 new clues unearthed by detectives from their review of just a quarter of 40,000 pieces of evidence collected in the case.

A source close to Madeleine’s doctor parents Kate, 44, and Gerry, 43, said: “Leicestershire Police, working alongside the lead force in Portugal, told Crimestoppers to stop sending them psychic logs as they felt they were being swamped with too much information.

“They believed it was totally insignificant and would not help in the search.

“Instead Crimestoppers kept the logs, amounting to some 100 pieces of new information, filed and locked them away.

“There have been some cases of psychics tipping police off then acting as a go-between between the authorities and a kidnapper.

“Kate and Gerry are pleased that Scotland Yard will be examining possible new clues as well as re-examining old ones. There could be one piece amongst the pile that unlocks the mystery.”

Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “If there are a number of new pieces of information it is right and proper that they go to Operation Grange as a priority.

“It is far too late but it is better that the police act on them than not at all.”

Leicestershire Police last night declined to comment on claims they ignored tip-offs.

A Crimestoppers spokesman said: “This case has now been handed over to Scotland Yard and we continue to co-operate with them.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We are in close dialogue with Crimestoppers to ensure that all material in their possession from any source is shared with us.”

Madeleine vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, days before her fourth birthday, while her parents dined with pals nearby.

Police reviewing the case believe she could be alive and have issued an image showing how she might look now.