Madeleine McCann Met Police investigation to be given up to £192,000 more as total tops £13m

The Metropolitan Police probe into the high-profile case has so far cost £13.2 million

Madeleine McCann vanished in Portugal 17 years ago (PA Media)

Up to a further £192,000 has been granted by the Home Office for the Scotland Yard investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The confirmation of the latest annual funding for Operation Grange was revealed in a parliamentary written answer by Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom. He also said that as of March this year, the Metropolitan Police had spent £13.2 million investigating the high-profile case.

It comes as the McCann family mark the 17th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance on May 3. This month is also her 21st birthday.

Madeleine vanished in 2007 while on holiday with her parents in Praia da Luz, Portugal, after they left the then three-year-old and her younger twin siblings asleep in their apartment while they went out to dinner with friends.

Responding to a parliamentary written question by Conservative peer Lord Black of Brentwood, Lord Sharpe said: “For the year 2024-25 the Home Office has agreed to provide up to £192,000 to the Metropolitan Police Service through special grant funding for Operation Grange, the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

“At March 31 2024, the total cost of the investigation was £13.2 million. “Operation Grange’s special grant budget currently funds a team of three police officers and one member of police staff, all of whom operate on a part-time basis.

“Special grant funding is reviewed annually by the Home Office. The department also liaises regularly with the Operation Grange investigation team to assess progress and challenge the use of funds as necessary.”

Kate and Gerry McCann will mark the 17th anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance (PA Archive)

The prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance is currently on trial in Germany charged with unrelated sex offences, allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

The 47-year-old German, only known as Christian B because of the country’s strict privacy laws, spent many years in Portugal – including in Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.

He is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for the rape of an elderly woman at her home in the resort town in 2005.

He had denied all the charges against him and any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.