Hunt for Madeleine McCann needs more cash to continue

Hunt for Madeleine McCann needs more cash to continue


Earlier this year Scotland Yard said detectives were still following a critical lead 10 years after Madeleine disappeared.


By Martin Brunt, Crime Correspondent

Scotland Yard is to ask for more money to continue its six-year investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Detectives are struggling to resolve a final lead, which, if it fizzled out, could have brought the £11m Government-funded investigation to an end next month.

I understand that the Home Office is willing to carry on paying for the last bit of work to be completed.

A source said: "We will be asking for more money because we need to complete the work we are doing. It is complicated and not as straightforward as we had hoped, but it is worth doing."

Madeleine was nearly four years old when she vanished without trace from her family's rented holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.

The Portuguese police closed their investigation 15 months later, after finding nothing to explain her disappearance.

In 2011, after an appeal from her parents Kate and Gerry McCann, the then Prime Minister David Cameron asked Scotland Yard to investigate with special Home Office funding.

Sixteen months ago then Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said his squad - reduced in 2015 from 30 to three staff - was expecting to close a final investigative lead within months.

"That line of inquiry probably at the moment is the conclusion of this inquiry," he said.

In April this year, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said detectives were still following a critical lead.

"We have a significant line of inquiry which is worth pursuing and because it's worth pursuing it could provide an answer - but until we've gone through it I won't know whether we are going to get there or not."

Police will give no details of the lead - nor why it is proving so difficult to resolve. But they want more time to pursue it.

There has been speculation that it involves a hunt for a suspect or a key witness, but none of that has been confirmed.

Retired Metropolitan Police detective Peter Kirkham said: "Media interest and the political drive for it to be done in the first place will add to a reluctance to stop the investigation until they are absolutely sure they have done everything they can.

"If a line of inquiry has any signs of life in it whatsoever, they will be saying 'this is here and we can do it but we'll need this amount to do it and if you don't wish to pay for it that is your decision'."

A spokesman for Madeleine's family told Sky News: "The McCanns will be pleased. The fact that the police feel there is still work to be done which needs funding is very encouraging.

"They remain grateful to all the officers involved in the investigation."

Scotland Yard said: "Funding is in place until the end of September. Any details about future funding will be released when appropriate."

The Home Office confirmed that funding for Operation Grange had been provided until the end of next month.

"The level of funding provided is a reflection of the wide-ranging and complex nature of the investigation which the police have deemed necessary to undertake," a spokesperson said.

They added that they have not received a new funding request from Scotland Yard but that "any future request will be considered carefully


http://news.sky.com/story/hunt-for-madeleine-mccann-needs-more-cash-to-continue-10999676

Thank you, Max - let's hope the funds are forthcoming, as the sums involved are chickenfeed in comparison to what is thrown away by the government every minute of the day.

And no doubt this will provoke yet another bile-burst from the hate squad - I can't actually be bothered reading anything the hater bores have to say on the subject, as they've been regurgitating the same nasty stuff for more than ten years now.

"let's hope the funds are forthcoming":

My friends, this was taken from The Portugal News newspaper:

http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/madeleine-mccann-uk-police-want-more-funds/42922

It's beginning to look more and more as though they are on to something, possibly hunting for someone. But the logistics of recovering an abducted child from some foreign countries won't be simple, even if she is a Ward of Court.

A perfect example of taxpayers' money being thrown down the drain:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/london-garden-bridge-project-end-dead-official-trust-organisers-expense-river-thames-a7892041.html

The project to build the Garden Bridge spanning the river Thames in London has officially been shut down, after more than £37m was invested in the scheme before building work had even begun.

The Garden Bridge Trust, the charity that was overseeing the £200m project, said it was scrapping the plans after London Mayor Sadiq Khan refused to sign off the costs of maintaining the bridge.

In April, Mr Khan wrote to the Trust's Chairman, Lord Mervyn Davies, saying such a guarantee would "expose the London taxpayer to too much additional financial risk. I am simply not prepared to risk a situation where the taxpayer has to step in and contribute significant additional amounts to ensure the project is completed," he said.

Just stop and think about that for a minute.

£37 million pounds flushed down the toilet for a stupid vanity project that will never be built.

The cost of continuing the Yard investigation is loose change in comparison. Stop and think of the good so much money could have done, in so many ways - and be very, very angry at such a complete waste of taxpayers' money.

http://news.sky.com/story/madeleine-mccann-set-to-be-extended-as-police-ask-for-more-funds-11024595

Search for Madeleine McCann set to be extended as police ask for more funds
Ministers are likely to approve more funding as long as they are satisfied there is a realistic chance of discovering her fate.

The Scotland Yard search for Madeleine McCann is set to be extended, three weeks before its funding was due to run out.

Detectives have asked the Home Office for more money while they continue to explore one last theory about her disappearance.

Ministers are likely to approve a cash injection so long as they are satisfied there is still a realistic chance of discovering the fate of Madeleine, who was nearly four when she vanished during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police and their Portuguese colleagues have worked together for more than a year to find clues to corroborate their theory.


Sky News understands that phase of their investigation is complete and their success will hinge on technical results of their work.

The money they are asking for is unlikely to be a large amount, effectively enough to keep a small number of detectives - three or four - on little more than a watching brief.

The request should be approved in the next week or so.

Full report at link.

That should set the obsessive hater bores off again.

Search for Madeleine McCann set to be extended as police ask for more funds.
Ministers are likely to approve more funding as long as they are satisfied there is a realistic chance of discovering her fate.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/647381/madeleine-mccann-search-missing-girl-portugal-police-hunt-end

Funding for the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Grange is due to run out on Saturday.

Officers have applied to the Home Office for an extra £90,000 to keep the investigation going for another six months.

Policing minister Nick Hurd was expected to sign it off but Home Secretary Amber Rudd has reportedly got involved and no decision has yet been taken.

If the Met’s bid is rejected it is likely the four-strong team of detectives still working on the case will be wound down.

Scotland Yard could pay the sum from its own budget, but the force has suffered severe cutbacks.

Police union officials have called for the McCann inquiry to be axed and funds redirected to protect London from crime and terrorism.

If the probe is halted it would be a bitter blow to Madeleine’s doctor parents Kate and Gerry, from Rothley, Leics.

Sources say they would dip into a fund set up shortly after their daughter vanished in Portugal in 2007 to pay private detectives to carry on looking for her. etc.

Oh, really? And just how far do they imagine £90000 is going to stretch against 'terrorism'?

An afternoon's clean-up after one of London's endless stabbings or acid attacks - which the police seem incapable of stopping - would burn through that.

Anyway, it's only the Star, so is probably nonsense.

bb1, your words are mine.

http://news.sky.com/story/madeleine-mccann-police-investigation-gets-more-funding-from-home-office-11057946

Madeleine McCann: Police investigation gets more funding from Home Office
The new funding will allow the investigation into her disappearance to continue until at least the end of March next year.

The Home Office has agreed to give Scotland Yard another £154,000 to continue its search for Madeleine McCann until the end of March next year.

In April the Scotland Yard team investigating her disappearance was given £85,000 to continue working until the end of this month.

More than £11m has been spent trying to find the missing girl, who disappeared in Portugal in 2007, aged three.

"Following an application from the Metropolitan Police, the Home Office has confirmed funding for Operation Grange until the end of March 2018," a Home Office spokesperson said.

"As with all applications, the resources required are reviewed regularly and careful consideration is given before any funding is allocated......etc.

That should set the obsessive hater bores off again.