|
Post by Admin on Dec 9, 2014 15:08:53 GMT
British police are returning to Portugal to question several people in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann this week. The detectives, who will travel to the Algarve on Monday, are expected to spend three days working on the case. It comes in the wake of the departure of the detective leading the hunt for Madeleine, who vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007 while her parents Gerry and Kate were dining with friends nearby. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who has been the head of Operation Grange since it was set up in 2011, will step down before Christmas. He will be replaced by Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Wall, who will officially take over the inquiry on 22 December. She will travel with the detectives going to Portugal and will meet with officials there. Earlier this year, Scotland Yard detectives returned to Portugal to help interview several people over the case. It followed on from searches of three areas of land near the Ocean Club, the hotel where the McCanns were staying. Portuguese and British investigators excavated an area of scrubland to the west of the resort at the start of June but found no evidence related to the case. Portuguese police closed their investigation in 2008, but the Met launched its own inquiry three years later.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Dec 22, 2015 7:30:29 GMT
Kate and Gerry McCann are getting ready to launch their final attempt to find Madeleine. Funds for the police investigation into their daughter’s disappearance in 2007, known as ‘Operation Grange’, will run out next year. In total the operation has cost around £12million since 2011, and funding is only guaranteed until April 2016. But Kate and Gerry have reportedly saved a separate £750,000 in case the Operation Grange fails and they need to launch a private investigation. ‘The £750,000 has been preserved because Kate and Gerry knew they may want to reopen an investigation,’ a source told The Mirror. ‘They have always said they will do anything they can and keep going.’ The source added that the McCanns won’t invest in a private investigation until Operation Grange has concluded. ‘While Grange continues they have the finest technology and analysts to hand, so it must be left to them,’ they said. ‘There are a lot of questions that remain unanswered, but the McCanns still have full confidence in the Metropolitan Police.’
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 5, 2016 6:54:50 GMT
Former police officers employed by G4S have been used by Scotland Yard in the hunt for Madeleine McCann. Up to 81 former officers have been on the Met Police payroll to search for the missing girl over a five-year period. Revelations of the global company’s input into the failed £12.1 million hunt for Maddie only emerged in documents obtained from the London force under freedom of information laws. It is set to cause embarrassment to the Government who are now investigating the private firm for allegedly overcharging them. Two weeks ago Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry publically thanked Operation Grange, the police inquiry set up into their daughter’s disappearance on PM David Cameron ’s orders, in May 2011. But the couple from Rothley, Leics, couldn’t resist a dig at cops for failing to do “as much” quickly enough in an online festive message. It was not clear if the McCanns were aware G4S , whose reputation has been scarred after a string of blunders, had been brought on board. The firm’s relationship with the Government has been frayed following a series of scandals including bungling the London 2012 Olympic contract and charging taxpayers for monitoring dead criminals.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Dec 4, 2016 20:43:46 GMT
Police investigating Madeleine McCann are probing an “important new lead” that she was snatched by a trafficking gang, reports have suggested. The new line of inquiry could shed light on whether Madeleine was kidnapped or transported away, the Sun on Sunday reported. In April the Home Office granted the investigation, called Operation Grange, £95,000 to cover another six months of the inquiry. But in August, Scotland Yard said that there was "outstanding work" on the case and that the "Metropolitan Police Service will remain in dialogue with the Home Office regarding the continuation of funding".
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2016 20:44:06 GMT
A Home Office spokesman said on Sunday: "We have already set out that we have provided the Metropolitan Police with the funding required for Operation Grange to continue until at least the end of this financial year. The resources required will be reviewed again at this point." A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The Operation Grange team are not prepared to discuss any lines of inquiry whilst the investigation is ongoing." Detectives are chasing a tip Madeleine McCann was snatched by European traffickers in a "last roll of the dice" in their bid to find her alive. Operation Grange has been given extra funding to continue until April following information traffickers were seen taking pictures of the three-year-old on a beach before she was snatched. The new line of inquiry is understood to have been taken seriously enough for the probe to be extended by six months until April. But a senior source told The Sun the new lead looks to be "the last roll of the dice" in their hunt.
|
|