KATE and Gerry McCann were today anxiously waiting to hear whether a reported sighting of their daughter Madeleine in Spain was valid, their spokesman said.

A British couple claimed to have spotted the missing tot on a beach in Majorca last

 Sunday sparking a huge police search.

The holidaymakers are convinced they saw the missing youngster with two women at Cala d'Or, in the south east of the island, at 10.30am last Sunday.

The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: 'Kate and Gerry are aware of this report, as are their investigators, and are grateful to the couple for informing the Spanish police as quickly as they did.

'Kate and Gerry are awaiting to hear from the Spanish authorities whether this is valid. There have been so many reported sightings which sadly have come to nothing that they have long learned not to get their hopes up.'

Sightings

The middle class couple went to their hotel to check internet pictures of Madeleine and remained convinced it was the tot.

But when they returned to the beach there was no sign of the young girl or the two women.

They reported the incident to the Civil Guard in nearby Santanyi that afternoon.

Police have been to hotels and holiday apartments in Cala d'Or and nearby Cala Egos and Cala Ferrera.

A police source said: 'Officers are looking in hotels and holiday apartments to try to locate the young girl this couple saw.

'So far we have not been able to find her.

'The couple's account was detailed and there were no contradictions in their statements.

'However, we are aware of the numerous previous sightings all over the world that have turned out to be false and it could well be that the couple have made an honest mistake.'

Madeleine was days short of her fourth birthday when she disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in southern Portugal in May 2007, while on holiday with her parents, both 41-year-old doctors from Rothley, Leics.