Madeleine, 3, went missing from holiday apartment in Algarve almost 17 years ago
The search for Madeleine McCann, arguably the most famous missing person of the 21st century, has received another cash boost of £110,000 to ‘help continue the probe’, launched by the Metropolitan Police in 2011 – already four years after the three year old’s disappearance from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Algarve.
It is understood that the British investigation has already cost well over €15 million (British press puts the pound value at over £13 million) – while the Statute of Limitations on prosecution if a suspect is ‘found’ (with sufficient evidence) in Portugal has already run out.
Every year as ‘funding’ for this search – dubbed Operation Grange – seems on the point of running out, the government tends to come up with a new cash injection.
German police are still intent on pinning Madeleine’s abduction and subsequent murder on Christian Brückner, a man already in jail, facing other charges, but who denies involvement. This far, the German theory has failed to come up with sufficient evidence, or even charge Brückner.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
