Madeleine McCann could still be found with Facebook’s cutting-edge facial recognition technology, says retired cop
NEXT Wednesday marks ten years since Madeleine McCann disappeared, but her fate could still be uncovered by FACEBOOK.
Retired detective chief inspector Mick Neville believes the site’s cutting-edge facial recognition software could be the key to finding her.
Facebook maps peoples’ features every time an image is uploaded, and can recognise them even if they are not “tagged” with a name.
In Madeleine’s case, the former Scotland Yard forensics expert says the technology could easily identify people with the rare blemish seen in the missing girl’s right eye.
Then expert “recognisers” could be brought in to search through images of people with the same condition to try to spot the girl, who would now be nearly 14 years old.
He believes there is every chance that if the youngster, who vanished aged three on May 3, 2007, is still alive, her picture will be on the internet somewhere.
Mr Neville, who pioneered the use of image recognition forensics in criminal detection resulting in thousands of convictions, told The Sun: “There are still opportunities to find out what happened to Madeleine McCann through the use of images.
“If she was still alive — and there is no proof she is not — then by using a combined tactic of technology and people with advanced facial recognition skills you could potentially find where Madeleine is today.”
And he suggested the search would be greatly narrowed down by the unusual keyhole-shaped line in her eye, known as coloboma of the iris, which affects as few as seven out of a million people.
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He said: “If an image search was carried out for females in an age range of three to 15 with this eye marking then you may only have a few hundred in the UK and tens of thousands worldwide.
“It would be an easily manageable number to scan through.”
Mr Neville added it is entirely feasible that if Madeleine was abducted by a childless couple or sold by people traffickers, then a family photograph could exist of Madeleine somewhere on the internet or on a passport database.
Other useful images could come from CCTV footage.
He said: “She would now be a girl of almost 14 years old. If she is being brought up by a childless couple then it is probable she uses Facebook or Snapchat, like all children of that age do. They are drawn to social media.
“If this were the scenario then I also think it would be difficult for any family not to have put a digital image of Madeleine on the internet somewhere at some point.”
The former detective said law enforcement databases featuring images of abused children could also be scanned with the software.
He explained: “There is no single Interpol database for storing images. But many law enforcement agencies across the world have their own databases with paedophile material.
“With the right software tool, these systems could be search for an image of Madeleine focusing on her distinctive eye mark.”
The iris blemish was a key focus of early posters in the hunt for Madeleine, who went missing from her family’s holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, while her parents Kate and Gerry were dining yards away.
But police soon became wary of attaching too much importance to the mark, in case anyone who recognised her from a distance was dissuaded from coming forward because they had failed to spot it.
However, Mr Neville said the march of technology — such as the software used by Facebook with its 1.86billion users — means it should once again play a central role.
And if the Facebook system did not work, he says, a bespoke software tool could be developed along the lines of a logo pattern recognising system used by Mr Neville’s team for the first time last year to secure the conviction of a burglar.
This technology trawled CCTV to identify distinctive branding of a repeat offender’s T-shirt, which was then matched to the top worn by the thief in an earlier mugshot.
Any images found that featured people with the same eye condition as Madeleine would be reviewed by humans with gifted recognition skills, known as “super recognisers”.
The Metropolitan Police, which has been leading the hunt for Madeleine, currently has a team of 140 super recognisers, although only six are employed full-time.
Mr Neville explained: “Super recognisers are known to be able to identify people from images taken many years ago.
Facial recognition works from the eyes and in Madeleine’s case that could be highly relevant. It is never too late.”
The expert, who retired in January, founded the Met’s Central Forensic Image Team in 2012.
He continued: “Used properly, images are an essential crime- fighting tool.”
Mr Neville’s hopes for finding Madeleine come after it was revealed yesterday that Met detectives working on the £12million investigation are chasing a critical lead.
They believe the “significant line of inquiry” is the best hope to end the decade of tragic mystery.
Officers will not discuss any details but it is understood to revolve around the idea that burglars were involved.
Met police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley said the latest police lead was “of great interest”.
He added: “It could provide an answer, but until we’ve gone through it I won’t know whether we are going to get there or not.”
Last night when contacted by The Sun, Facebook declined to comment.