Drawing Madeleine McCann: Forensic artist's 'huge responsibility'By Chris Ellis
BBC News
From staring at photographs of dead bodies to imagining how Madeleine McCann may have aged. Who are the artists used by police to help with their investigations?
Police do not just turn to forensic artists to create images of dead people. They are also employed in missing persons inquiries, most famously perhaps in the case of Madeleine McCann.
The photographs of her as a three-year-old - her age when she vanished from a Portuguese holiday apartment in May 2007 - are instantly recognisable to many.
However, they were of limited use in trying to trace a girl whose appearance would certainly have changed in the intervening years.
Teri Blythe said the age progression of Madeleine McCann was her most high profile case.
"It's always a huge responsibility for any case to not only create the best image but to also do so to the satisfaction of the parents and family who ultimately know that missing person so well," said Ms Blythe, whose skills were called upon by the Metropolitan Police in 2012.
"The high profile nature of Madeleine's case obviously added to the pressure.
"But once I and the family were confident with the aged image, we knew it would get substantial publicity and hopefully therefore lead to more information about her disappearance."
The image was part of an appeal which, along with others since, has resulted in a "high number of calls" to the investigation team, the Met Police said.
Ms Blythe said she used numerous reference photographs of family members at all ages.
She also used other photographs of children who were a similar age to Madeleine to help her decide the hair style and colour and clothing for the image.
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