Madeleine McCann cops given extra £108k as search continues for missing Brit 18 years on
17 April 2025, 13:42 | Updated: 17 April 2025, 13:44
Detectives searching for Madeleine McCann have been given a further grant of £108,000 to continue their investigation.
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Scotland Yard has received more than £13 million since she went missing 18 years ago.
Madeleine, who was three years old at the time, vanished on May 3, 2007, when her family were holidaying in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Last year, the Home Office gave the Met £100,000 for Operation Grange, which is the unit tasked with hunting for her.
For the new financial year, it has been increased by £8,000.
Read more: Woman, 60, charged with stalking Madeleine McCann's family
A Home Office spokesperson said: "The ongoing police investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, known as Operation Grange, is an operational matter for the Metropolitan Police Service.
"Ministers have approved a request to provide up to £108,000 for Operation Grange in 2025-26.
"In line with our Special Grant processes, funding for Operation Grange is approved on an annual basis."
In 2020, German police named Christian Brueckner as a prime suspect - but he has not been charged in relation to the case.
He is currently in Sehnde Prison, near Hanover, where he is serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of a pensioner in Praia da Luz.
In October, he was cleared of several unrelated sex charges, with the incidents also alleged to have happened close to the Algarve resort where Maddie vanished.
Prosecutors have since lodged an appeal against the decision.
Brueckner is expected to be released in September unless he is charged in the Madeleine case.
Detectives in three countries are in a race against the clock to find evidence against him.
