Has Hunt for Madeleine Ground to a Halt

EXCLUSIVE: Has hunt for Madeleine McCann ground to a halt? Just months after police announced extra funding amid reports they were closing in on a suspect, we reveal they made just TWO flights to Portugal last year

Madeleine McCann detectives made just two flights to Portugal last year
Earlier this year Scotland Yard chief said the investigation was far from over
Mark Rowley revealed new information and 'critical' leads were still coming in
Met Police confirmed in March that Home Office had approved extra funding

By Jonathan Corke and Rachael Burford For Mailonline

Published: 16:34, 15 July 2017 | Updated: 17:13, 15 July 2017


Just months after British detectives announced 'critical' new leads in the Madeleine McCann case, and £85,000 in extra funding, Mail Online can reveal officers have significantly scaled back some aspects of the investigation.

Detectives investigating the toddler's disappearance, codenamed Operation Grange, made just two flights to Portugal last year.

A Freedom of Information request revealed the flights cost £500 and just £100 was spent on overnight expenses by senior investigating officer, DCI Nicola Wall, during the trips.

In 2014 Operation Grange officers spent almost £16,000 on 67 return flights in search of three-year-old Madeleine, who vanished from her parent's Portuguese holiday villa in 2007.

So far the police operation has cost more than £11m and parents Kate and Gerry McCann said they were 'very grateful' for an £85,000 cash injection from the Home Office in March this year.

The funding boost came as Scotland Yard chief Mark Rowley said there were still 'critical' leads of 'great interest' in the case.

He also ruled out that Madeleine's parents were involved in her abduction and said she could still be alive.

As the couple faced the agonising 10th anniversary of their daughter's disappearance, Mr Rowley also revealed that detectives were pursuing new information regarding the youngster's disappearance.

He said: 'I know we have a significant line of inquiry which is worth pursuing, and because it's worth pursuing it could provide an answer, but until we've gone through it I won't know whether we are going to get there or not.


'Ourselves and the Portuguese are doing a critical piece of work and we don't want to spoil it by putting titbits of information out publicly.'

At the time he declined to expand on the nature of the working theories or reveal whether any suspects were currently being considered, claiming that disclosing further detail would not help the investigation.

Mr Rowley said: 'We've got some critical lines of inquiry, those link to particular hypotheses, but I'm not going to discuss those because those are very much live investigation.


'We've got some thoughts on what we think the most likely explanations might be and we are pursuing those.'

A MET Police spokesman told MailOnline that detectives are going through a 'vast amount of material' related to the case in the UK.

He added: 'The investigation continues with focus and determination.'

Mail Online has contacted the McCann's representative for comment.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4699346/Has-hunt-Madeleine-McCann-ground-halt.html#ixzz4mvnRi100
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Surprising there are only 13 "moderated" comments.

Thanks cherry,

Colin Sutton was right then...

Quote
http://gerrymccan-abuseofpower-humanrights.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/ex-met-murder-cop-colin-sutton-blows.html

UK detective refused to head up Madeleine McCann probe because 'Scotland Yard would order him to prove Kate and Gerry were innocent and ignore other leads' 

Colin Sutton said he was warned by senior friend in the Met about case in 2010
Friend said he would be told 'who to talk to and what to investigate', he claimed
'Narrow focus' would be to prove Kate, Gerry and Tapas Nine innocent, he said 
Spoke on Sky Documentary based on leaked Home Office report that revealed 'turbulent relationship' between McCanns and police in London and Portugal 

A detective tipped to head up the Madeleine McCann probe was warned he would be ordered to prove she was abducted and ignore other leads. 

Colin Sutton said a high-ranking friend in the Met called him and warned him not to lead the case when Scotland Yard announced it would get involved in 2010.

The source warned that he would be tasked with proving her parents Kate and Gerry were innocent and ignoring any alternatives to the abduction theory, he claims.
Unquote.

Well the recent Met premise exposed by Colin Sutton, that Madeleine's parents are not involved in her disappearance has been shown to be true then, apparently without the need for any further investigation....

Small wonder they haven't needed to spend much of the £85k kindly donated by the present administration in No:10