* UK police explore new line of investigation over missing Madeleine McCann *
Police conducting a global search for Madeleine McCann, the British girl who disappeared in 2007, have come up with a new version of events surrounding her suspected abduction and want to question one unidentified man in particular, following a news report of a sighting in Cyprus earlier this year.
McCann, then aged three, went missing from her room at the Praia da Luz holiday resort in Portugal in May 2007 while her parents were dining with friends at a nearby restaurant, triggering a search that gripped the world's media.
In a statement on Sunday ahead of their most detailed TV appeal for information on the case, British police said they planned to release a series of e-fit images of individuals they want to question.
"The purpose of the appeal is to try and identify these men, to eliminate any innocent sightings or to establish if they are connected in any way," British police said.
"The timeline we have now established has given new significance to sightings and movements of people."
Last March, Cyprus police confirmed local media reports of a sighting of a child that looked like Madeleine McCann, informing Interpol that the child may have been part of a British family that has already fled the island.
Sightings have since been reported around the world with the McCanns following some leads that the missing child may be in Russia or Ukraine.
Cyprus Police spokesman Andreas Angelides said that the owner of a holiday apartment complex in the southeastern resort town of Ayia Napa filed a complaint on February 7 that a British couple, staying with their three children, abandoned the premises after stealing home appliances.
Angelides added that on February 20, police received information “that one of the three children looked like Madeleine McCann.”
Despite investigations the couple was not found, Angelides said, adding that most likely the British family has already fled the island, a common tactic among holidaymakers who try to avoid paying their bills.
The police spokesman also noted that Interpol had been notified, adding that investigations are continuing in Cyprus. An arrest warrant had been issued against the couple.
The Politis daily reported that the complaint was filed by a British man who had seen so many photographs on the Internet, on television and the U.K. press that he was convinced the child was missing Madeleine.
The newspaper added that according to eye witnesses, the girl “looked frightened, was under constant supervision and acted strangely,” had the characteristic eye mark and that she did not look like the other children of the family.
The parents reportedly disappeared when neighbours started showing interest in the little girl.
A similar sighting in New Zealand was dropped after the schoolgirl repeatedly mistaken for missing Madeleine McCann gave police a DNA sample so Scotland Yard could confirm that she is not the youngster.
U.K. Police said they wanted to identify one man in particular who had been seen by two witnesses in the resort area around the time of McCann's disappearance.
"Whilst this man may or may not be the key to unlocking this investigation, tracing and speaking to him is of vital importance to us," Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said.
Working with the BBC's Crimewatch programme, police said they had put together the most detailed reconstruction of the day McCann disappeared.
It is to be broadcast in Britain on Monday before similar appeals are launched in the Netherlands and Germany, they said.
"Our work to date has significantly changed the timeline and the accepted version of events," said Redwood, without giving further details.
British police began their own inquiry into the disappearance in July, saying they believed McCann might still be alive.
