Madeleine McCann: Government gives police £154,000 to extend search for missing toddler

Investigation will continue until March 2018 - 11 years since child vanished

Madeleine McCann has been missing since May 2007 (Family Handout/PA Wire)

The Home Office has handed the Metropolitan Police £154,000 to extend the search for missing toddler Madeleine McCann.

Scotland Yard had requested extra cash to continue its investigation into the three-year-old's disappearance in 2007.

The force had said it was investigating "significant" leads, which Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley described as "very worthwhile".

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

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

The Met had previously suggested it would ask for further funds to investigate one final line of enquiry in the £11m Operation Grange.

Funding had previously only been guaranteed for the investigation to last until the end of September.

In August the Home Office said it would consider providing additional funding for the investigation, but at that point had not recieved a request from the Met.

"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.

Three-year-old Madeleine vanished from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on 3 May, 2007.

Her disappearance sparked one of the most high-profile, and expensive, police investigations of recent times.

Scotland Yard's investigation has been active since 2011, but the number of detectives working on the case was cut from 29 to four in 2015.