 UK police make inquiries about remains found in suitcase but Australian authorities say there is currently ‘no evidence’ it relates to McCann case 
 
 Police officers investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have contacted Australian authorities over the discovery of a young girl’s remains in a suitcase, Scotland Yard has said. Australian police commissioner Grant Stevens told a parliamentary committee hearing: “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. The discovery has led to speculation that the remains could be those of McCann, who had blond hair and was three years old when she went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in the Algarve, Portugal, on 3 May 2007. Earlier this month, South Australia Police found what they believed were the remains of a girl, aged between 2 ½ and 4 years old, dumped in a case on the side of a highway near the city of Adelaide.
– First, the words of caution: "There is absolutely no evidence at this point in time that the child is Madeleine McCann," says an Australian police commissioner. But the body of a child, found near the South Australia town of Wynarka and thus far unidentified, has led the detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine to reach out to their Australian counterparts. Here's why: The remains, contained in a suitcase that also held a quilt and some clothing, are thought to be those of a fair-haired girl, between the ages of 2 and 4, who was killed some time after the beginning of 2007. Madeleine vanished at age 3 on May 3, 2007. NBC News reports police said the child was likely white, with hair about 7 inches long. The Australian Associated Press reported the skeletal remains were found on July 15; it's thought the suitcase had been left along the rural highway four to six weeks prior, with the child having been killed before that. British law enforcement officials confirm they have made contact, but neither side sounds overly optimistic. It's "highly unlikely" the remains are those of Madeleine, says Detective Superintendent Des Bray, per the Guardian. Adds the commissioner, to suggest the child is Madeleine "at this point in time would purely be speculating to get attention." What they are zeroing in on, per the Advertiser: that homemade quilt. "The quilt is really important to the investigation," says Bray. Investigators believe a portion of the quilt fabric, which shows colored musical notes against a black background, was made in New York around 2008.