Fears are growing that a tot is likely to have been snatched from her tent in a similar way to how Madeleine McCann was taken.
Detectives have stated that if four-year-old Cleo Smith had left her tent by herself then she probably would have been found by now, having disappeared on October 16.
And now Dr Graham Hill, a former Scotland Yard detective who has worked on the Madeleine McCann case, has agreed that she was probably taken from the campsite in Western Australia, reports The Mirror.
British three-year-old Madeleine disappeared from her ground floor apartment in Portugal’s Praia da Luz in May 2007 during a family holiday.
While it remains a mystery as to how she went missing, it is a widely held belief that she was kidnapped.
He said that a young child disappears if they wander off or if they are taken and the latter is more likely.
He told The West Australian : “Bearing in mind she’s only a small little girl, she’s not going to get that far. Little girls and boys get tired really quick and in the middle of the night they are half asleep anyway.
“The real complication, from what I can see, is the fact that her sleeping bag’s gone missing. I would say it’s a remote chance that she’s got up wandered off and taken her sleeping bag with her."
The toddler disappeared a week ago from a remote campsite north of Perth, in Western Australia.
But despite a massive search for Cleo, she has not been found leaving police believing she was “taken”.
Dep police commissioner Col Blanch said: “Cleo disappeared from her family’s tent, despite an extensive, land, sea and air search, we have not yet located her body.”
He refused to speculate on what could have happened to the four-year-old including the question on whether she may have been buried in the area.
Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde said police "hold great fears for her safety".
So far local Aboriginal bush trackers have been involved in trying to help find the little girl and police have also said they have questioned all locally registered sex offenders.
A huge £540,000 reward, the equivalent to a million Australian dollars, has been put up by West Australian Premier Mark McGowan for information.
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