Portuguese police are carrying out searches for missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann in England this weekend, a source said today.
The Policia Judiciaria (PJ), who are leading the investigation into her abduction, have now widened their search to North Africa and the rest of Europe, the source added. Officers launched fresh searches in Portugal yesterday, which are continuing today and are expected to last until tomorrow.
The source, who is close to the police investigation, said: "It is very difficult for me to say something. "But sincerely I hope that the searches yesterday and today, and probably tomorrow, will give something to the rescue.
"I can confirm there are some searches inside and outside of Portugal - in England, for instance. "I know that there are PJ officers who have gone to the UK, but I don't know if they have found something."
At least one of the searches in Portugal yesterday involved a police diver, but it is believed that nothing was found. Details emerged yesterday of a sighting of a young girl matching Madeleine's description in Morocco last week. Marie Olli, a Norwegian woman who lives in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol and once lived in Leicestershire, said yesterday she was "very sure" she saw the missing girl in Marrakech on May 9th.
While stopped at a petrol station she saw a "sad" young blonde girl who initially appeared to be standing on her own. Then an "anonymous-looking" man in his late 30s came over and the girl asked him: "Can I see mummy soon?" The Portuguese paper 24 Horas reported today that a PJ team travelled to the south of Spain this week to investigate a Spanish couple's report of a sighting of Madeleine in Marrakech.
But it was a wasted trip, the paper said. The source would not confirm whether Portuguese police were carrying out searches in Spain or Morocco, but he said reported sightings of Madeleine in North Africa had been investigated without success.