06 March 2024 , 10:20
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British detectives looking for missing Madeleine McCann will receive an extra £100,000 in funding to help their investigation going.
London's Metropolitan Police has so far been given £13million from the Government since 2011 to look for the girl who went missing when she was three years old from a hotel room in Praia da Luz, Portugal. Operation Grange has been searching for leads for more than 10 years.
Christian Brueckner, a German national who is the prime suspect in the case, is currently on trial in for five crimes in Portugal between 2000 and 2017, including the alleged rape of a woman in her 70s and a 14-year-old child.
The extra funding for Operation Grange has come from the Home Office for the next financial year. Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry are said to have welcomed the news on the extra cash. A source said: "This is very welcome news - Kate and Gerry have never given up hope and nor will they, finding Madeleine or what happened to her is paramount to them. They are eternally grateful to the officers from Operation Grange and are being kept in touch on aspects of the hunt and the police obviously have leads if a request for funding has been made."
Brueckner is pictured in court as the trial commences (Phil Harris / Daily Mirror)A Home Office spokeswoman said: "In line with our Special Grant processes, funding for Operation Grange is approved on an annual basis. Funding for 2023-2024 will run until 31st match and decisions on 2024-2025 will be made in the next financial year in line with usual practice."
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Investigative TV reporter, Mark Williams-Thomas, who has made a documentary about the youngster's disappearance posted on X this morning: "Operation Grange set up by Metropolitan Police to investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is given another 100k to add to the £13 million it has already received from the Government since 2011 .
"To date Op Grange has totally failed - if only this type of money were allocated to the other missing child/unsolved murder cases. This is a disproportionate allocation of money just to one case."