Media descends on Amsterdam as new Madeleine hunt begins

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Communities

The Dutch shop worker who said she may have seen Madeleine McCann just days after the hunt began today told friends she "dearly hoped" her information would help.

Anna Stam returned to work at the Dam's party shop, in the Middenweg district of Amsterdam, this morning after details of her sighting had been made public by police.

Ms Stam, 41, had told Dutch detectives she spoke to a little girl aged three or four in the city who said her name was "Maddy" and replied to a question about her mother: "They took me from my holiday."

But after it emerged that private detectives for Kate and Gerry McCann were now investigating her claim, Ms Stam told friends she was feeling "totally overwhelmed".

Wendy Gebharp, 31, who has worked alongside Ms Stam for the past three years, said more than 20 journalists had gathered outside the shop.

She said: "It is totally overwhelming for her. She told me she dearly hopes that her information helps but I do not think it is fair that Portuguese police have revealed her details.

"She doesn't want to talk to anyone at the moment. She has come here to do her day's work but more than 30 journalists have come in to try to talk with her.

"There are about 20 outside right now. She is suddenly Holland's most in-demand person. I do not think it helps."

The possible sighting of the missing girl was reported to Portuguese officers in June last year - but it has only now been made public with the release of previously secret police files.

The girl entered Ms Stam's party shop in early May last year with a man and a woman and two other children, according to her statement to Dutch police.

The man - who "did not look like a nice person" - appeared to be speaking Portuguese but the woman spoke in English and told Ms Stam they had a small circus in France.

Ms Stam was at the back of the shop when the young girl approached her and asked in unaccented English: "Do you know where my mummy is?"

On being told that her mother was a little further back in the store, the child replied, "She is not my mummy," and added: "She is a stranger, she took me from my mummy."

The Dutchwoman said she thought the girl looked "very much like" Madeleine apart from the colour of her hair.

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said it was "tragic" that this kind of information should only be released now.

"It is harrowing to hear a child saying that. If it was Madeleine, it was a disgrace that it was not passed on," he said.

"We need to know what happened with this. This is exactly the sort of primary information that we need to know if it was followed up properly by the police.

"If that hasn't been done, that is exactly the kind of information that the private investigators are going to follow up."