An Australian woman has been forced to deny that she is the woman detectives are searching for in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Judith Aron, 53, was interviewed by Australian police after a friend tipped them off that she resembled the Victoria Beckham look-alike investigators hope to find.

Ms Aron, who lives on Madeline Street in Melbourne, emphatically denied that she had any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance three years ago.

"It's frightening, I don't know who this woman is. I don't know anything about this," she told the Herald Sun newspaper.

"I've been caring for my elderly father and I haven't been overseas since 1997.

"Abducting kids is sickening," she said, adding that at 53 she did not exactly resemble the former Spice Girl.

The potential Australian link emerged after two British men told police about a woman with an Australian accent they met in Barcelona 72 hours after Madeline vanished from her parent's holiday villa in Portugal.

The "agitated" woman who appeared to be waiting for someone allegedly asked one of the men: "Are you here to deliver my new daughter? Have you got her? Have you got the child?"

Since the description of the woman was circulated in Australian media last week, there have been hundreds of "sightings" of the mystery brunette.

Clarence Mitchell, the spokesman for the McCann family, said the reports had produced a number of viable leads about Madeleine's disappearance in Portugal in 2007.

"An awful lot of these tip-offs and bits of information are well-meaning, but ultimately come to nothing," he told Australia's Nine Network on Sunday.

"But out of all this we have had dozens of names for the woman we're looking for given to us ... and out of that, the detectives have a number of viable leads.

"That's their description: a number of viable leads that they are pursuing as a priority."

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