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Madeleine: flashback to the dingo baby case

The case of Madeleine McCann reminds colin bostock-smith of a famous Australian tragedy

Kate McCann could be forgiven for thinking that Providence has dealt her a hand that is agonisingly unique: the loss of her daughter, the fruitless search, and now the unspeakable humiliation of being accused of Madeleine's 'accidental' murder.

But it is not unique, it has happened before. Twenty-seven years ago, a 32-year-old Australian woman called Lindy Chamberlain lost her baby girl. The circumstances - in a case that became famous for Lindy's cry "A dingo took my baby!" - and what happened to her afterwards, are disturbingly similar to the experience of Mrs McCann.

In 1980, Lindy (right) and husband Michael took their three children on a holiday to Ayers Rock - now known as Uluru - in the Northern Territory, Central Australia (just as, in 2007, Kate and Gerry McCann took their three children on holiday to Praia da Luz, in Portugal).

Lindy returned to check on Azaria, and found her gone. She also saw a dingo sneaking away into the dark

On the night of August 17, 1980, the Chamberlains left two-month-old Azaria sleeping in their tent, while they went to eat a few yards away. Lindy returned to check on Azaria, and found her gone. She also saw a dingo sneaking away into the dark (Kate McCann returned the few yards from a restaurant to their holiday apartment - and found, she maintains, no sign of Madeleine).

What happened next in Australia also mirrors what has been happening in Portugal. The stricken Chamberlains were at first surrounded by sympathisers and officials, and a hunt for the missing child was begun. Lindy's baby was never found (It is still too early to say that Madeleine McCann will never be found).

The Australian police became frustrated when the hunt for Azaria proved futile, and in hindsight it can be seen that they deliberately began to focus on a suspect more available and vulnerable than a wild dingo - Lindy Chamberlain herself.

Witnesses were told by police they were not interested in any dingo. This, they said,