Madeleine McCann inquiry to END after 11 years as fears grow prime suspect WON’T be charged
SCOTLAND Yard is to close down its 11-year investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.
Funding for the Operation Grange inquiry — launched four years after she vanished — will end later this year.
A source said: “There are currently no plans to take the inquiry any further.”
The decision means that prime suspect Christian B is highly unlikely to be charged over her disappearance.
It underlines how top cops feel there is insufficient evidence to bring a case against the convicted paedophile and rapist, who German cops were convinced was involved.
The Met’s Operation Grange probe — which has run for 11 years — is due to wind down later this year.
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Key events in quest to solve riddle
MAY 3, 2007: Madeleine reported missing from her holiday apartment at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, Portugal, at 10.14pm.
SEPTEMBER 2007: Her parents Kate and Gerry McCann return to England with their twins.
JANUARY 2008: Sketch of a suspect released.
JULY 2008: Portuguese authorities shelve their probe.
NOVEMBER 2010: McCanns sign publishing deal to write book about disappearance.
MAY 2011: Operation Grange is set up by Met Police after Kate writes open letter in The Sun to PM David Cameron asking for inquiry by British cops.
JULY 2013: Brit cops identify 38 “persons of interest”.
OCTOBER 2013: Portuguese police re-open their investigation.
MAY 2014: British cops go to Portugal to investigate leads.
OCTOBER 2015: Operation Grange staff cut from 29 to four.
APRIL 2017: Four official suspects are ruled out.
JUNE 2019: Police receive a further £300,000 funding.
JUNE 2020: Christian B identified as a suspect.
JULY 2021: Operation Grange given a further £350,000.
The source added: “The end of the road for Operation Grange is now in sight.
“The team’s work is expected to be completed by autumn.”
The source said that the case file could be re-opened if any significant new information comes to light.
The Grange investigation was launched in May 2011 — four years after Madeleine vanished — after her mother Kate wrote an open letter in The Sun to then PM David Cameron asking for British police to begin an inquiry.
Current funding of the probe runs out on March 31. A final request by the Met for another grant, taking it to the end of September, was recently submitted to the Home Office.
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Never giving up
By Antonella Lazzeri
FOR 15 years, they have vowed to never give up. As they said: “How could any parent do that? You can’t, you never give up.”
This latest news will come as a huge blow to Maddie’s mum and dad, Kate and Gerry, but one they have known was likely to happen.
One of the most devastating things Kate found as she read through Portuguese police files was that within weeks of her going missing, “no one had been searching for Madeleine”.
But Operation Grange has been a massive comfort to them both.
There have been false alarms, false hopes, highs and lows. But through it all, the couple have prayed for the best and prepared for the worst.
It is a disgrace that no one has been charged after all these years of fighting by the parents — not helped by the appalling early investigation by cops in Portugal.
But we salute the family for not wavering and remaining determined to find the answers to their girl’s disappearance. And we fully support them.
It takes the total cost of the investigation to approximately £13million.
Outgoing Met commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said last year that the Grange probe would continue until there was nothing left for them to do.
Madeleine vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007, when aged three.
German cops at one stage said they had “concrete evidence” that Madeleine was dead and Christian B was involved.
Christian B, 45, was identified as a suspect 2020. He is serving a seven-year jail sentence in Germany for raping a woman aged 72 in Portugal.
The investigation into him is being led by German and Portuguese authorities, with the Met taking a background role.
In recent years the Grange team has been whittled down from 40 officers to just four detectives working under Det Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell, who also heads the Met’s cold case review unit.
They are also responsible for liaising with Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry, both 54, of Rothley, Leics, and keeping them informed of developments.
It is understood the McCanns are aware of the inquiry’s impending closure and have vowed to never stop their hunt to find Madeleine or establish her fate.
They are now likely to continue their quest with money from a fund set up by the pair with help from wealthy double-glazing businessman Brian Kennedy.
Latest accounts from January show “Madeline’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned”’ has £931,350 after liabilities.
The 15th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance falls this spring.
The case is still being treated by the Met as a missing person inquiry, despite German cops saying that Madeleine is presumed dead after being murdered.
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She vanished while sleeping with her twin brother and sister in a bedroom as her parents dined with friends at a tapas bar nearby.
Madeleine would now be almost 19 and former Met detective chief inspector Mick Neville said last night it remains a possibility that she is still alive.
Leads do exist
By Mick Neville
IT would seem the Met Police has run out of leads in the inquiry.
Much effort has been put on linking the crime to the convicted rapist and paedophile Christian B, but this has failed. No tangible proof has been produced he was ever involved.
German prosecutor Hans Wolters’ statements, that the authorities had “concrete evidence”, were misinterpreted here.
The phrase, in German, means the police have tangible reasons to suspect someone and can legally question them.
It does not mean hard proof as it does here. But there are still leads to be followed, with social media images and any CCTV footage from the time.
If Madeleine is alive, her face will appear somewhere. On a passport database — even if she has a new name — or on social media sites. Even if she has just been captured in the background of someone else’s photo.
We need answers. There are still excellent lines of inquiry to be made.
