http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21903045-952,00.html
MADELEINE McCann's parents were on tenterhooks as Portuguese police investigated claims that their daughter lies buried in deserted scrubland only 14km from where she was abducted.
An anonymous letter insisting that the four-year-old's body is hidden under rocks was sent to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and passed on to the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria.
It was thought to pinpoint an area north of Odiaxere, north-east of Praia da Luz, from where the girl was snatched 41 days ago.
Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa said the information was being taken seriously and "everything necessary" was being done to validate the allegation.
But police have not started searching on the ground amid concerns that the co-ordinates are not detailed enough.
"There have been exchanges between Dutch police and us," said Mr Sousa.
"The information indicated an area 15km from the place of the disappearance of the little child.
"It is not far from Praia da Luz. We are checking the information like we check everything in this case for importance."
Asked if any search would involve digging, he said: "If the information gives us a precise location where we can look, we will do it."
According to De Telegraaf, the letter said Madeleine was buried "north of the road under branches and rocks, around six to seven metres off the road" in a barren and deserted landscape.
A map came with the letter, with crosses marked on it.
The letter is thought to be similar to one sent to the same newspaper last year, giving details of the rough location of the bodies of two missing Belgian girls.
Stacey Lemmens, seven, and her step-sister, Nathalie Mahy, 10, disappeared while playing outside in Liege on June 10 last year.
Their bodies were found on June 28, the same day as De Telegraaf received two maps marked with crosses and handwritten text.
Today, a source at the newspaper said it had received two anonymous paragraphs of similar handwritten text written in Dutch.
"We received an anonymous letter with a map in it marked with the spots where Madeleine was buried.
"The police in Holland are taking it very seriously because it looks like the same sender as one we received one year ago in another case of missing children.
"The letter said the girl should be found six to seven metres from a road. We have been there but haven't seen anything, but the area is so wide that you should be there with 100 searchers."
Mr and Mrs McCann visited the Netherlands last week as part of a European search for their daughter.
The couple lived in Amsterdam for a year in 2004 when Madeleine was a baby and Mrs McCann, 38, was pregnant with twins Sean and Amelie.
The couple, from Rothley in Leicestershire, have led a tireless campaign to try to find their daughter amid unprecedented media attention.
They have been to Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Morocco to try to track her down.
Their nightmare started on May 3 when Madeleine was taken from the family's holiday apartment in the Mark Warner Ocean Club resort as her parents ate at a tapas bar only metres away.
She was sleeping next to her younger brother and sister, but they slept through her abduction and are too young to understand what has happened.
