The government has agreed to review the case of a two-year old girl who disappeared 36 years ago.
Katrice Lee, from Hartlepool, went missing from a Naafi supermarket at a military base in Paderborn, Germany, where her family was stationed in 1981.
International appeals have failed to find the toddler, but her family has never given up hope she could still be alive.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said he was “happy” to sanction a review.
Mr Williamson was responding to a question from Hartlepool MP Mike Hill in the House of Commons.
Second birthday
A re-investigation of the case, called Operation Bute, is already being carried out by Royal Military Police (RMP).
Katrice went missing on 28 November 1981 – her second birthday – while out shopping with her mother Sharon, from Gosport, Hampshire.
Mr Hill said: “This coming Thursday marks the 36th anniversary of the disappearance of a young toddler, Katrice Lee from a Naafi complex in west Germany.
“As the Royal Military Police’s Operation Bute is still live, will the Secretary of State agree to review the case and meet me, and my constituent Mr Richard Lee, Katrice’s father, to discuss the matter?”
Mr Williamson said: “I should be more than happy to review the case and meet the honourable gentleman to discuss it in greater detail.”
