Madeleine McCann news: Artist creates pictures of what she thinks missing girl would look like now, aged 20

An artist has created pictures of what she believes Madeleine McCann would look like now, 16 years after she disappeared - and she believes she would look like her younger sister Amelie.

The age progression images of Madeleine, who went missing at the age of three in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz, have been created by Simone Malik.

Malik believes Madeleine, who would now be aged 20, would look like her 18-year-old younger sister, Amelie. The teenager was pictured for the first time since being a toddler in May this year, when she attended a vigil for the 16th anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance and gave a short statement.

Madeleine, who was the eldest of the three McCann children, vanished from a Portuguese holiday resort in the Algarve on 3 May 2007. She was sleeping in one room while her younger twin siblings, Amelie and Sean, who were then aged two, slept in another room.

Simone, who calls herself a 'super recogniser', said she has created the image to help find the missing child and believes Madeleine and Amelie have a similar mouth. The former NHS worker also thinks the siblings have the same eyebrow and eye area and the same square chin.

Simone added: "Madeleine's jawline is more angular and a bit more chiselled compared to her sisters. She also possibly has dimples at the bottom half of her cheeks, which Amelie does not have. Madeleine McCann has a similar mouth to Amelie McCann, however Madeleine's upper lip is thinner and the gap from between her nose and lip is also longer.”

‘We are basically looking for a lookalike of Amelie McCann’

Simone, whose sketch of a child murderer and rapist in Pakistan successfully led to his capture, added that the facial features between the sisters are “shocking”. She added: "Amelie's recent and very first media appearance this year, definitely confirms my theory of Madeleine's features."

The images have been created around three months after investigators spent several days at a Portuguese reservoir looking for fresh evidence and more information which would help them to discover what happened to the missing girl.  Investigators are now reportedly comparing soil they found at the reservoir to samples of dirt found in main suspect Christian Brueckner’s camper van.

Simone created a similar portrait when Madeleine would have turned 18-years-old in 2021, and then she said she looked like her aunt, Philomena. She has urged for anyone “who sees a face like'' Madeleine's to come forward. Simone, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, added: "I strongly believe, I have cracked the mystery of Madeleine MacCann's face, as she would look today. We are basically looking for a lookalike of Amelie McCann.”