PUBLISHED: 00:01, Sun, Mar 12, 2017
Caroline Wheeler
Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have identified a person they want to question and have been given an extra £85,000 to follow up the crucial lead
The hunt was due to end within weeks as funding ran out. But in a fresh development detectives said there is a specific person of interest they need to question.
The lead is seen as solid enough to persuade the Home Office to grant the extra money which will extend the search until September.
It means the investigation will continue past the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance in May.
She vanished from her bed in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz while her parents ate a meal nearby with friends just days before her fourth birthday in 2007.
Police said there is one individual they want to speak to who was in the same area of Portugal when she went missing.
International intelligence agencies have been working together to find the “person of interest” who detectives believe may hold the key to solving the case.
Had the information not been deemed a “solid live lead” then the £13million police investigation would have been wound up
The Home Office last night confirmed that the Metropolitan Police had been awarded an extra £85,000 in operational costs for Operation Grange to continue.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Following an application from the Metropolitan Police for special grant funding the Home Office has confirmed £85,000 in operational costs for Operation Grange for the period April 1 until September 2017.
“As with all applications the resources required are reviewed regularly and careful consideration is given before any new funding is allocated.”
Senior officers admit the investigation of the new lead is the “last throw of the dice” in their hunt.
But the Met is taking the development so seriously that leading Whitehall officials are being briefed on its progress.
An insider said: “There is just one person who detectives want to speak to who was near to the area where Madeleine disappeared almost 10 years ago.
“An international search has been underway to find them.”
Last night Policing Minister Brandon Lewis, who signed off the latest payment, said: “I am pleased to be able to support the British police who are trying to get to the bottom of what happened to Madeleine McCann and give some kind of closure and justice to her family.”
At the height of Scotland Yard’s inquiries more than 30 detectives and support staff were working on Operation Grange based at Belgravia police station in central London.
When the inquiry was in full swing a team of trained specialists carried out detailed searches of carefully chosen scrubland near where Madeleine was taken from the coastal holiday spot on May 3, 2007.
Now Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Wall, who leads the small team, has the unenviable task of trying to make a breakthrough with limited resources and a ticking clock before the September cut-off date.
Detectives are now confident the net is closing in on the key lead which is why an application was made to the Home Office for extra funding and a stay of execution for the investigation.
Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry remain convinced their daughter could still be alive.
They had invested huge hopes in Operation Grange to end their nightmare and were relieved that the once well-financed formal police probe allowed them to halt their own private investigations.
After Grange was launched in May 2011 the 48-year-old doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, resumed relatively normal lives with heart expert Gerry working full time at Glenfield Hospital near their home and Kate concentrating on bringing up their twins, Sean and Amelie, now aged 11.
Kate said last year: “The urge to look for Madeleine absolutely hasn’t changed at all.
"We will never give up.
"I want an end, an answer. Whatever that it is.”
Operation Grange was launched after a personal plea from Kate to then prime minister David Cameron after the Portuguese closed down their own inquiry.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “The investigation is ongoing.”
