Is this man tied to case of missing British girl?

updated 4:49 p.m. ET Jan. 20, 2008

LONDON - The parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann released a new artist's impression on Sunday of a man they claim could be involved in their daughter's disappearance.

The sketches are based on a description given by a British vacationer of a man acting suspiciously in the Praia da Luz holiday resort in Portugal about two weeks before the girl went missing.

Madeleine disappeared May 3, a few days before her 4th birthday, during a family vacation in Praia da Luz.

Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell told a London news conference the image is similar to a previous description of a man seen carrying a child on the night of the girl's disappearance.

"We believe this man could be linked to Madeleine's disappearance," Mitchell said. "If he is innocent, we want him to come forward for his own sake so he can be ruled out."

Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, who have run an international campaign to find their daughter, returned to Britain in September, a day after they were named as formal suspects in the case.

Forensic tests conducted at a government laboratory in Britain found evidence that DNA from Madeleine was in the trunk of a rental car the parents used after her disappearance.

But Portuguese police said the tests on the car were not conclusive and investigations are continuing.

The inquiry initially focused on the possibility that Madeleine had been abducted from her hotel room at a resort while her parents were dining at a nearby restaurant.

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