Each year, over a million missing persons cases are reported in the US and UK, leaving families desperately searching for their loved ones. In the hope of boosting this search, researchers have developed a new and more accurate method of ageing facial images. They have tested their new software on an image of Ben Needham, who went missing when he was a toddler in 1991 on the Greek island of Kos. The resulting images are vastly different to the computer generated images of Ben as an adult produced by current face-ageing current software. This, they say, suggests that existing technology isn't up to the task.

A retired police detective has claimed that Madeleine McCann could be found using facial recognition technology on Facebook. Madeleine vanished from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007, when she was three years old – with her mother Kate saying the 10th anniversary is a'horrible marker of time, stolen time'. Former Scotland Yard detective chief inspector Mick Neville has revealed that the site's cutting-edge software could help find Maddie, who would now be 14 years old. Mr Neville, a forensics expert, believes the state of the art technology could be used to trace Maddie because of a distinctive blemish in her right eye. He told The Sun: 'If she was still alive -- and there is no proof she is not -- then by using a combined tactic of technology and people with advanced facial recognition skills you could potentially find where Madeleine is today.'