Morocco photo is not Madeleine McCann

The grainy image of a fair-haired girl being carried on the back of a woman bore a startling resemblance to the four-year-old, who went missing in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3.

But the girl in the photo has been named as five-year-old Bushra Binhisa and the woman identified as her mother Hafida.

News that it was not Madeleine came as a severe blow to Kate and Gerry McCann who remain convinced their daughter was abducted and have clung onto the hope she might still be alive.

Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said they "very disappointed" by the development but he warned that the sighting had not been officially discounted.

"Clearly if it's not her it's very disappointing, it is obviously a terrible blow," he said.