Police will get a further £150,000 to investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, it was reported today. Photo / AP
Police will get a further £150,000 to investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, it was reported today. Photo / AP
Police will get a further £150,000 (NZ$288,000) to investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, it was reported today.
The funding will keep Operation Grange going until March 2019, the MailOnline reported.
The news was met with anger on social media as taxpayers demanded justification for pouring more moneyinto the probe which has already cost £11.6million (NZ$22m).
Kate and Gerry McCann are "incredibly grateful" to the Home Office for approving Scotland Yard's latest request for more money amid stringent government cutbacks, family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said.
He said: "They are very encouraged that the Met Police still believe there is work left to be done in the search for their daughter and they remain incredibly grateful to the Home Office for providing an extra budget for the investigation.
"Beyond this they cannot comment on the ongoing operation."
The Yard had applied for renewed funding in September but the Home Office has declined to say until today if it had been approved - leaving Maddie's desperate parents on tenterhooks for weeks.
A spokesperson said: "We have confirmed that Special Grant funding of £150,000 will be provided to the Metropolitan Police Service for the six-month period to 31 March 2019. This is an ongoing police investigation."
Police will get a further £150,000 to investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, it was reported today. Photo / AP
Three-year-old Maddie vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz in May 2007.
She had been left alone sleeping with her younger twin siblings while her parents were dining with pals in a nearby tapas restaurant.
Former GP turned medical worker Kate and heart doctor Gerry, both 50, of Rothley, Leicestershire, cling onto a glimmer of hope that Maddie could still be alive after more than 11 years.
She would be aged 15. Detectives have refused to discuss details of the "important final line of inquiry" they are pursuing.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We cannot give a running commentary on the investigation while it is ongoing."
The inquiry, launched in May 2011 and now headed by Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Wall, still has "important work to do and focused lines of investigation to be pursued, a force spokesman said".
"The inquiry has not reached a conclusion and we're continuing with focus and determination. There are no immediate plans to reduce officer numbers further at this time."
Last month a former detective has revealed he remains 'hopeful' that Madeleine McCann will be found alive in Portugal, where she went missing in 2007.
Mr Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry appreciate everything the authorities have done and are doing to get a resolution after all this time. It gives them hope that one day they may finally find out what happened to their daughter."
Ex police chiefs and some members of public have slammed the Maddie inquiry as a waste of public money and officers' time despite it being drastically scaled down over the past few years.
The McCanns have around £4million saved in a public fund to help find their daughter. But they fear this could be swallowed up in legal fees and a potential libel payout to former Portuguese officer Gonçalo Amaral in their ongoing and bitter court battle.
There is a healthy balance of nearly £750,000 sitting in the Find Maddie Fund. The stash of cash - made up mainly of public donations and profits from Kate's bestseller book - has grown over the past financial year, according to the latest accounts.
Last month a former detective has revealed he remains 'hopeful' that Madeleine McCann will be found alive in Portugal, where she went missing in 2007.
Former Detective Inspector Dave Edgar was hired by Kate and Gerry McCann to look into their daughter's disappearance and worked on the case for three years before it was taken over by the Met Police in 2011.
Mr Edgar believes the case is "solvable" and maintains there are "people out there who know what happened".
Last year Mr Edgar claimed the kidnapper was being protected and said the disappearance was "intricately planned by a gang of paedophiles".
The McCanns have around £4million saved in a public fund to help find their daughter. But they fear this could be swallowed up in legal fees. Photo / Getty
He once said he believed Madeleine was being held in an underground cell or dungeon, like the victims of Josef Fritzl.
Mr Edgar told The Sun in October there is still the chance of a breakthrough, adding: "[Madeleine] could literally be anywhere in the world but my hunch is that she is in Portugal.
"The chance that she may have been smuggled out of the country without being detected is highly unlikely. There is someone in Portugal with an open knowledge of where she is and what happened."
In September the Home Office confirmed it was considering an application from Scotland Yard for more funding to continue the hunt for the youngster.
In a blog published on September 26, it said: 'We have received and are considering a request from the Metropolitan Police Service to extend funding for Operation Grange until the end of March 2019.
"The Home Office maintains an ongoing dialogue with the MPS regarding funding for Operation Grange."
Scotland Yard launched Operation Grange in 2013 after a Portuguese inquiry failed to make any headway.
