Helmut Hetzel

Die Welt

The Dutch newspaper "de Telegraaf" has received an anonymous written tip-off about the location of the body of Madeleine McCann, who was kidnapped on 3 May. The letter reminded investigators of a similar case in Belgium.

Only days after her parents had travelled to the Netherlands to search for their missing daughter the Amsterdam daily "de Telegraaf" received a mysterious letter purporting to give the exact location of four-year-old Madeleine’s body. The anonymous sender said she was buried under stones in a rugged area between Lagos in the southern Algarve and Monchique in the north.

The sender also enclosed a computer-printed map of the Algarve with a cross marked on Madeleine’s reported resting place, downloaded from the Dutch website www.routenet.nl.

It is noteworthy that the spot has no asphalt roads, but only sand tracks which are difficult to drive on. Even so, the anonymous sender was able to pinpoint the spot exactly.

The spot lies only about 15 to 20 kilometres from the tourist resort of Praia de Luz where "Maddy" was holidaying with her parents in May. It is suspected that she was kidnapped as she slept in their apartment while her parents were eating in a nearby restaurant.

Meanwhile the "Telegraaf" passed the letter with the marked map to the Amsterdam police. "The letter makes a serious impression and contains new information" said police spokesman Rob van der Veen. "We will pass it on to our Portuguese colleagues."

The search for the four-year-old in Portugal has been going on feverishly since she disappeared on 3 May. British diplomat Clarence Mitchell, who has been representing her family’s interests, spoke of his interest in the letter to the British media.

Another frightening link has given investigators cause to take the letter very seriously. When two girls Stacy and Nathalie were kidnapped and murdered in Belgium last year, the "Telegraaf" also received an anonymous letter. The two friends had been playing in front of a restaurant where Nathalie’s parents were having an evening meal together. When the family went to drive the two of them home, they were nowhere to be found.

A letter was sent stating the exact spot where the bodies of the two girls were to be found, with a map downloaded from the same website. Both children were found in thick bushes near a railway embankment near Liege. Belgian police spent days searching for Stacy and Nathalie. They found them only after the "Telegraaf" had received the anonymous letter.

"This is why we’re taking the letter and its contents very seriously" said police spokesman van der Veen.