Parents of missing Maddy show photo of what she may look like now

May 2, 2009, 11:09 GMT

London - The parents of Madeleine McCann, the British girl who disappeared in Portugal in 2007, have released a image of what she might look like now, exactly two years later.

Kate and Gerry McCann presented the age progression image on Oprah Winfrey's talkshow in the United States on Friday night. The photo, compiled by a forensic scientist using computer technology, was published in British newspapers on Saturday.

'We are no longer looking for a 4-year-old little girl but a 6- year-old one. This is crucial,' the couple said in a statement.

The image shows a smiling girl, with shoulder-length blonde hair wearing a pink band in her hair. There are only few similarities between the girl in the photo and those used in the highly-publicized search.

'This is the child that somebody who is close to Madeleine may spot, rather than the child in those other photos, and Kate and Gerry are incredibly hopeful that this will lead to the phone call that finds Madeleine and brings her home,' a spokesman for the McCanns said.

On the night of May 3, 2007, Madeleine disappeared from her bed at the holiday apartment in which her family was staying in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. Witnesses later reported having seen the child in various countries.

Investigators initially treated the case as an abduction but later assumed that Maddy, as she was known, was dead and declared the McCanns suspects. In July 2008, investigations were deemed inconclusive.