Spanish private detectives hired by Gerry and Kate McCann have investigated a sighting in Morocco of a blonde girl with the same distinctive mark in one eye as missing daughter Madeleine, a family spokesman said.

Hopes that a blonde girl photographed in Morocco could be Madeleine McCann were dashed today after British journalists said they had tracked her down.

It will be very difficult to prove whether Madeleine McCann is the young girl in a photograph taken in Morocco, a facial recognition expert warned today.

Madeleine McCann’s parents will today anxiously await the opinion of experts analysing a striking photograph of a girl taken by a holiday maker in Morocco.