Prosecutors across Greece were ordered yesterday to conduct emergency checks of birth records from the past six years, after the arrest of a Gypsy couple on suspicion of abducting a little girl triggered fears of widespread welfare fraud.

Greece is holding an emergency nationwide fraud investigation into birth certificates sparked by the case of the young girl found living in a gypsy camp.

A couple have been remanded in custody, charged with the abduction of a mystery blonde girl in Greece known as 'Maria'.