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A poster of missing British girl Madeleine McCann is displayed on the church door of Praia da Luz beach resort in the southern Portuguese province of Algarve August 7, 2007. Portuguese police have found traces of blood on the wall of the apartment where four-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann went missing and now fear she might have been murdered, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday. Police seem increasingly convinced that Madeleine was murdered the night she disappeared three months ago and no longer think she was kidnapped, the Diario de Noticias daily cited sources close to the investigation as saying. REUTERS/Virgilio Rodrigues

South Australia Police ruled out the possibility that the lifeless body of a young girl found in a suitcase in Australia belonged to missing child Madeleine McCann. Police said that the body found by a remote motorway in Wynarka near Adelaide was not related to at least 43 missing children.

According to police, the decomposed body belongs to a fair-haired girl aged between two-and-a-half and four. Detective Superintendent Des Bray said that UK police were advised that Madeleine had been “totally excluded” as a potential victim.

Australian Police Commissioner Grant Stevens told a parliamentary estimates committee hearing on Tuesday that the body did not belong to the missing girl. "There is absolutely no evidence at this point in time that the child is Madeleine McCann ... to suggest something like that at this point in time would purely be speculating to get attention,” Herald.ie quoted Stevens, “We are focusing our inquiries on South Australia but we would be considering any potential missing child.

Stevens added that all the possibilities were open until the identity of the child was confirmed. It was speculated earlier that the decomposed body found in Australia belonged to three-year-old Madeleine.

The BBC reported that the missing British child had disappeared in 2007 while on vacation in Portugal with her family. When the body was discovered in a suitcase, British police made contact with its Australian counterparts.

The body is believed to have been dumped on the roadside about four months back. Australian authorities have so far been unable to identify the girl. South Australian detectives, however, said that the remains of the body might date back to at least eight years.

Bray showed a mannequin to the media to show what the little girl was wearing. The light-coloured girl, whose body was found in a suitcase, was wearing black, sheer skirt and a dark leotard.

According to Bray, the child may have died several years back as the clothes she was wearing dated back to 2007. The girl was found with a "Dora the Explorer" purple top, red sports shorts, a pink shoe and a black tutu.

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