Just weeks shy of the 19th anniversary of the disappearance of three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann, there has been a major update in her case.
On March 26, Home Office ministers approved the request to extend funding for Operation Grange – which was launched in 2011.
The little girl vanished from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Portugal on the evening of May 3, 2007.
Her distraught parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have campaigned tirelessly ever since trying to find their daughter.
The couple were vacationing with their two younger children, twins Sean and Amelie, at the time of Maddie’s disappearance. The twins will turn 21 this year.
For 2026/27, the specialist Metropolitan Police team leading the investigation has been allocated $125,000.
While that is down $32,000 on the previous year, it means another 12 months of vital resources. To date, the investigation has cost approximately $19 million.
Potential suspect hits dead end
In 2020, German native Christian Brueckner was identified as the prime suspect in Maddie’s disappearance.
He was already serving a seven-year sentence for the 2007 rape of a 72-year-old woman in Portugal’s Algarve region. However, authorities were unable to definitively link him to the case.
He denies any involvement and was subsequently released from prison in September 2025.
Still holding out hope
In January, the McCanns released a statement to their Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page.
They shared their hope that this year would bring “the breakthrough we long for”.
“As 2025 draws to a close, we wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us, in whatever way, over the past year & for continuing to hope for positive news of Madeleine,” they wrote.
“The investigation continues & we are very grateful to the police forces for this … the ongoing search and quest for knowledge & justice has not stopped & is far from over.”
Resources better spent elsewhere?
Retired Metropolitan Police detective Peter Bleksley has previously questioned if the millions being spent searching for Maddie could be better spent.
“You have to ask, what have these millions achieved? The answer, sadly, is nothing,” he said.
“There will be parents of other missing children reading this and asking why the investigation into their child’s disappearance has not had the same level of funding and attention.”
