Madeleine McCann investigation: Police get £300k to continue inquiries for another year

Operation Grange will receive money to pursue leads until at least March 2020

Scotland Yard detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have been given another year of funding to continue their inquiries, the Home Office says.

The government department has told the Metropolitan Police that Operation Grange – opened in 2013 after the Portuguese police probe into the missing British girl failed to make any progress – will receive around £300,000 for the year ahead.

Madeleine was aged three went she went missing in May 2007, while on holiday with her parents in the Praia da Luz resort on the Algarve.

The police probe – which has cost £11.75m to date – received £300,000 over the course of last year. The Home Office said officers would get “a similar level of funding” to continue inquiries until at least 31 March 2020.

“We have received a request from the MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] to extend funding for Operation Grange until 31 March 2020,” the department said in a statement.

The Home Office also explained that “we have written to Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime in the meantime with assurance that the MPS will receive a similar level of funding for Operation Grange for 2019/20 as it did for the previous year”.

The force has applied for funding from the Home Office every six months to pursue leads, and a further £150,000 was granted last November.

Last month commissioner Cressida Dick confirmed the force had applied for more money.

She said: “We have active lines of inquiries and I think the public would expect us to see those through. A very small team continues to work on this case with Portuguese colleagues and we have put in an application to the Home Office for further funding.”

The Home Office said on Wednesday that it “maintains an ongoing dialogue with the MPS regarding funding for Operation Grange” and the next round of special grant funding will not be finalised until October.

It added: “When considering special grants applications, the Home Office does not take a view on whether an investigation should continue, which would be an operational matter for the police.”

On the 12th anniversary of her disappearance in May, Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann said: “There is comfort and reassurance though in knowing that the investigation continues and many people around the world remain vigilant.

“Thank you to everyone who continues to support us and for your ongoing hope and belief.”