Madeleine McCann investigation gets more funding

The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been given an extra year of funding by the Home Office, Sky sources say.

The Metropolitan Police had asked for more money last month to pursue “active lines of inquiries”.

Madeleine was last seen aged three while on holiday with her parents and her brother and sister, who are twins, in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.

After a Portuguese inquiry into her disappearance floundered, the Met opened its own investigation, Operation Grange, in 2013, which has so far cost £11.75m.

The Met must apply for Home Office funding every six months to continue the inquiry.

Last November, a further £150,000 was granted.

Kate and Gerry McCann, Madeleine’s parents, have always said they will never to give up the search for their daughter.

Last year, on the 11th anniversary of her disappearance, the couple used the official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page to thank supporters for their “persisting solidarity”, saying it “gets harder to know what to say or write” as the years go on.

(c) Sky News 2019: Madeleine McCann investigation gets more funding