How much has been spent on the search for Madeleine McCann?
Operation Grange has reportedly been awarded more funding in the search for Madeleine McCann.
The search to find missing Madeleine McCann has been given a further financial boost with additional funding of up to £192,000.
Madeleine vanished in May 2007 while on holiday with her parents in Praia da Luz, Portugal. The then three-year-old was last seen in the family's apartment, where she was left sleeping alongside her younger twin siblings while her parents Kate and Jerry ate dinner at a nearby restaurant in the holiday resort. Nothing has been seen or heard of her since then.
Millions has already been spent on the search but Operation Grange – the unit assigned to the search – is set to receive nearly £200,000 in extra funding. The extra cash was confirmed in a parliamentary written answer by Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom. It comes after Portuguese police formally identified German national Christian B as a murder suspect last year, and with the McCanns about to mark 17 years since Madeleine disappeared on May 3, 2007.
How much has been spent on the search for Madeleine McCann?
With the high-profile case never being far from the news, funding for the search is in the millions. According to figures from the Met Police, the total amount spent as of March 2024 stood at £13,200,000.
The force said that the figure only relates to the costs incurred in Operation Grange, and does not include the costs of other national and international investigators, where payment came privately.
Kate and Gerry McCann said in December last year that efforts to find their daughter continue “with the same determination, commitment and vigour” and will “eventually yield results”. In a message on the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page, the McCanns said there was “no new significant news to share” in the search for their daughter, but vowed to persevere.
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How much has been spent on Operation Grange each year?
Since Scotland Yard launched Operation Grange in 2011, the amount of funding received in a single year has dropped from a high £2.7m in 2012, to £190,000 in the first nine months of 2022, according to the Met Police.
The full figures are:
2011: £1,914,737.27
2012: £2,746,633,32
2013: £2,601,020,52
2014: £2,470,448,28
2015: £1,147950,22
2016: £332,994.65
2017: £294,990,59
2018: £301,775,56
2019: £292,045.24
2020: £327,383,86
2021: £324,044,54
2022: £190,131.17
2023: £100,000
2024: £192,000