Madeleine suspect 'waited for new daughter'

The search for missing British girl Madeleine McCann has moved to Australia and NZ, according to reports.

LONDON - A woman at the centre of the worldwide search for Madeleine McCann is claimed to have been waiting for a child to be delivered just days after the British three-year-old vanished.

Private detectives are hunting the mystery woman, believed to be from Australia or New Zealand, after a British businessman told them about a conversation he had with her in Spain just 72 hours after Madeleine vanished from a Portuguese resort on May 3, 2007.

Although investigators refused to reveal details of what was said, British newspapers on Friday said the woman had confused him with a man she was waiting for to deliver her "new daughter".

Unnamed sources claimed the businessman, who was in Barcelona partying with friends, spoke to the woman about 2am on May 7 as she paced anxiously outside a waterfront bar in Barcelona.

It is claimed that when he approached her, she asked him: "Are you here to deliver my new daughter? Have you got her? Have you got the child?"

When she realised he was not a courier and did not know what she was talking about, she walked off.

"The man came to believe the woman had been expecting someone who was going to hand something over," one source told The Sun newspaper.

"From what she said he took it to be a female child. She was very insistent he had her 'new daughter' -- and where was she?

"He had no idea what she meant at the time but when he found out about Maddie's abduction he found it very suspicious.

"The woman seemed to be at the bar at an appointed hour, waiting for someone to show and hand over something.

"When she realised he wasn't who she was expecting, she quickly brought the conversation to a close."

The man told investigators he strongly believed the woman had an Australian accent, but a friend who also heard their conversation thought it was possible she was a New Zealander.

Madeleine disappeared from her family's rented holiday apartment at Praia da Luz in the Algarve nine days short of her fourth birthday.

The private investigators, hired by Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann, believe the toddler could have been taken by boat from Portugal to Barcelona.

They have released a sketch of the woman in question, based on the British witness' description, in the hope of tracking her down to question her about the girl's disappearance.

She is described as being aged between 30 and 35, of slim build and "glamorous" appearance, similar to former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham.

The woman had short brown hair and was about 157cm tall. She wore expensive-looking blue jeans and possibly a pastel jumper.

- AAP