Is this some other poor parent's Maddie? Police appeal for help identifying blonde girl, 4

[twinkles**stars]

• Unidentified girl found living in a Roma gypsy camp in central Greece
• Man, 39, and woman, 40, arrested and charged with abducting a minor
• The girl has fair hair and pale skin and bears no resemblance to them
  
• DNA testing proved she was not related to the couple
  
• Charity now caring for the girl requests global hunt to find her real parents

Who is she? Police are appealing for help identifying this four-year-old girl who was found on a gypsy camp in Greece after she was allegedly abducted

Greek authorities have requested international help to identify a four-year-old girl found living in appalling conditions in a gypsy camp with a couple whom they have arrested and charged with abducting her.

The child was found on Wednesday near Farsala in central Greece during a routine search of the camp by police looking for drugs and weapons.

The girl reportedly sparked one of the officer's curiosity as she is blonde, pale skinned and bore no resemblance to the other Roma children or the couple who claimed to be her parents.

A 39-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman have been arrested and charged with abducting a minor.

Police said they offered conflicting accounts about the girl, one claiming that she was found in a blanket, the other claiming she had been handed to them by strangers.

Police said today that DNA testing proved the girl, who is believed to be called Maria, was not related to the couple.

'Her features suggest that she might be from an eastern or northern (European) country,' regional police chief Panayiotis Tzavaras said.

Police have notified Interpol for assistance.

Detectives say they also found drugs and unregistered firearms in other parts of the settlement, which is about 280 kilometers (170 miles) north of Athens.

The police statement said the couple claimed to have a total 14 children, and had registered different numbers with authorities in three different parts of Greece.

Officers found three minors living with them in the settlement who appear to be their children - although that hasn't yet been verified by DNA testing.

The case bears a disturbing similarity to theories about the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, who went missing on a family holiday in Portugal on May 3, 2007.

The girl is now in the care of the charity 'A child's smile,' which said today it has sought the assistance of European and global groups for lost or abused children in tracking her parents.

More...

• Detectives probing Madeleine McCann disappearance receive another 150 calls after fresh appeal on Du...
• Who did the key witness see? Police say it is possible that family saw Maddie being taken by her abd...

She does not speak other languages than Roma but appears to understand Greek and is being communicated with by sign language.

She was said to traumatised when she arrived at her care home but has since settled and is living in a safe family environment with other children of her age.

Distress: Dirty and grimacing as her photo is taken, the little girl is now the centre of an international appeal. Authorities hope her parents can be found so the family can be reunited

Police said the child was found near Farsala in central Greece during a crackdown on illegal activities by Roma

A medical examination is ongoing.

Panayiotis Pardalis, a spokesman for the charity, said: 'It was obvious that she was not a Roma girl.

'She was afraid and under some psychological pressure when she arrived. Colleagues have been trying to communicate but are struggling.

'She seems to understand Greek but cannot speak it. She was living under bad conditions and was very dirty but is now safe.'

Charity director Costas Giannopoulos said the child was undergoing medical examinations.

'We are shocked by how easy it is for people to register children as their own,' he told private Skai TV.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2465942/Is-poor-parent-s-Maddie-Police-appeal-help-identifyi...
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[icyfroth]

---

@**meep** wrote:

---

@icyfroth wrote:

---

@am*3 wrote:

The Bulgarian mother has come forward and says she thinks Maria is the child she gave away when living in Greece. The authorities are going to do a DNA test to prove/disprove that. That is what this story is about, nothing more.

If the Bulgarian mother had 2 children living with her that weren't hers (she bought them, stole them etc) she would hardly have initiated contact with the police.

---

You wouldn't think so would you?

Yet the greek couple had the little blond girl, "Maria" openly begging on the streets despite the fact that she clearly doesn't look anything like she could be one of theirs, in plain view of Greek police and civilians.

No-one questioned that, either, until the Maddie case was opened again, and voila! Here's a little blond girl that doesn't belong here and no-one know where she came from!

Imagine all the parents whose children have been taken wondering for years where they could be, and there they are, hiding in plain view of police and other authorities who choose to turn a blind eye.

Don't forget what they say about "assume", Am.

The Bulgarian woman THINKS she could be hers, but "who knows" are her own words.

---

Could it be just a coincidence the authorities  became suspicious during a police raid on the Roma community in search of drugs and weapons?  That's how she was discovered.  Not by questioning random Gypsies on the streets.

---

It was in a police raid in search of drugs and weapons that police noticed the little blond girl and questioned the parents. But only because the Maddie McCann case had recently been re-opened in Britain.

Otherwise they may well have continued to ignore the striking dis-resemblance between the child and the "parents".

[**meep**]

Maybe......or maybe because they already found drugs and weapons and it is a well known fact that there is a baby trade conducted by Gypsies between Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and England (as per report in one of the links) and the fact that the couple told various stories.....Maybe that was enough to warrant further investigation...

[azureline**]

can't they tell if a child is albino by looking at them? I don't know much about it, I admit but I thought there were clear indicators?

However, my daughter at age 5 and her best friend, no relation at all, were so alike that people often confused them and some thought they were twins.

[**meep**]

This was issued on the Council of Europe - Commissioner for Human Rights website:

Irresponsible media reporting on Roma propagates negative myths:

“The long-standing problem of negative media reporting on minorities has vehemently re-emerged with the cases of the children found in Roma families in Greece and Ireland. Most news reports, not only in Europe but all over the world, have insisted on the ethnicity of the families from which the children have been taken, thus propagating age-old myths portraying Roma as child-abductors” said today Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, in an open address to journalists.

“Such irresponsible reporting can have tremendous effects on the lives of millions of Roma and fuel already widespread violent anti-Roma movements. Although the Roma are no more inclined to criminal behaviour than anybody else, media insistence on mentioning ethnicity in news reports gives credence to the myth that Roma are by nature criminals.

This is not only false, but also dangerous as it risks heightening the already tense relations between the Roma and the majority population all over Europe.

The propagation of such a negative image also harms integration efforts: How can we expect the Roma to integrate in our societies if the media do not miss an opportunity to remind them that they are unwanted?

I call on all journalists involved in the coverage of these cases to step back and examine whether mentioning ethnicity was really necessary, whether the best interests of the child, including the right to privacy, have been respected and whether the presumption of innocence has been upheld.

Past examples teach us that demonising a group of people through the media can lead to nefarious political and societal consequences. It is necessary that the media use their power of forging public opinion more responsibly when it comes to portraying minorities in general, and the Roma in particular.

[**meep**]

---

@azureline** wrote:

can't they tell if a child is albino by looking at them? I don't know much about it, I admit but I thought there were clear indicators?

However, my daughter at age 5 and her best friend, no relation at all, were so alike that people often confused them and some thought they were twins.

---

I went to school with a girl who was albino.   When I saw the new photos of the 2 children in Bulgaria, I thought that's what they were. 

[**meep**]

When I was a child, spending summer holidays with my grandparents, I recall  news about  "the gypsies are coming"  travelling very fast through the village.  All the children were ordered inside, behind locked doors.   I also remember the gypsies selling lovely patchwork handbags.

[freakiness]

---

@azureline** wrote:

can't they tell if a child is albino by looking at them? I don't know much about it, I admit but I thought there were clear indicators?

However, my daughter at age 5 and her best friend, no relation at all, were so alike that people often confused them and some thought they were twins.

---

Not unless it's an extreme form. I've known a couple of albino people and was at first surprised that they just looked like everyone else.

[cherry*135]

---

@icyfroth wrote:

I am sure the authorties are on to that, would be on to that if they thought it necessary. Be easy enough to  DNAtest them all.

Goes without saying, wouldn't you say?

Perhaps the Bulgarian family have registered all the children they have living with them now,   have had them all since birth and there are no concerns that they aren't all theirs.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

There has been nothing reported which suggests otherwise.

All reports come to you personally, do they?

Again, I doubt the mother would initiate contact with police if she was harbouring 2 children that weren't her own that she plans to sell to traffickers.

At this stage, neither your doubts or mine are relevant to the investigation

---

---

Icy if you just want to put smart comments after my genuine replies to your posts why bother replying? 

This question deserves a serious answer from you: If the mother in Bulgaria was into child trafficking, had 2 children in her care that she intended to sell... do you think she would initiate contact with the police?

You have no reason to suggest the 2 fair children with the Bulgarian mother aren't hers...it has not been suggested in any news reports and adds nothing to the story about Maria.

[cherry*135]

It was in a police raid in search of drugs and weapons that police noticed the little blond girl and questioned the parents. But only because the Maddie McCann case had recently been re-opened in Britain.

I don't believe that is a true account of what happened at all. Do you have any prove that police in Greece were asked to target Roma Gypsy camps in Greece pretending to look for drug & weapons but were really looking for young blonde girls?

When Maria was found it was reported a female police officer noticed her peeping out from under a blanket and thought she did not look like she was child of that family because she was blond & blue eyed. The police were there on a drug/weapon search. A coincidence if it tied in with the Crimewatch Madeleine McCann TV progam airing.

supernova - For the hair dye -- I thought they may use some homemade dye.. made from what I don't know.

[cherry*135]

---

@freakiness wrote:

---

@azureline** wrote:

can't they tell if a child is albino by looking at them? I don't know much about it, I admit but I thought there were clear indicators?

However, my daughter at age 5 and her best friend, no relation at all, were so alike that people often confused them and some thought they were twins.

---

Not unless it's an extreme form. I've known a couple of albino people and was at first surprised that they just looked like everyone else.

---

Our local State MP is an albino. 

..when I was born, the doctors quickly diagnosed me with ocular coetaneous albinism which rendered me legally blind since birth. My parents were told by the doctors in the 1980s that 'you'll need to keep him in the dark and in doors". I say to those doctors today – thanks for the advice, but I think those doctors may wish to re-think their prescription.