Missing UK girl Madeleine McCann could be the child snapped in a photo made by a Spanish tourist in Morocco about three weeks ago, BBC reported on Wednesday.

"It will be very difficult to prove whether Madeleine is the young girl in the photograph," a facial recognition expert Dr Rob Jenkins warned.

"The picture looked similar to images of the missing British child. It looks as if this is a Caucasian girl, about the right age, build and complexion. There are however thousands of young girls fitting Madeleine's description," he added.

Dr Jenkins said also that the victim's family would be "extremely good" at judging if it is her.

"Computer analysis is far from perfect, although there are conditions where a computer can outperform a human with unfamiliar face matching," he said.

The four-year-old victim vanished from the apartment room at the Portuguese Praia da Luz resort on 3 May while her parents were eating with friends at a nearby restaurant.

The family maintains Madeleine was abducted and has campaigned internationally to secure the safe return of their daughter, including having a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI and securing support from football star David Beckham.

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