Madeleine McCann’s investigation is being closed after 11 years as fears grow that the main suspect will NOT be charged
SCOTLAND Yard will drop its 11-year investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
funding for the Operation Grange investigation – started four years after her disappearance – will end later this year.
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A source said: “There are currently no plans to continue the investigation.”
That’s what the decision suggests Prime suspect Christian B It is highly unlikely that she will be charged for her kidnapping.
It underscores how senior police officers believe there is insufficient evidence to bring a case against the convicted pedophile and rapist who German police officers were convinced that it was involved.
The source added: “The end of the road for Operation Grange is now in sight.
“The team’s work should be completed by the fall.”
The source added that the case file could be reopened if significant new information comes to light.
The Grange investigation was launched in May 2011 – four years after Madeleine disappeared – after her mother Kate wrote an open letter to then Prime Minister David Cameron in The Sun, urging British police to launch an investigation.
The probe’s current funding expires on March 31. A final request from the Met for another grantwhich will last until the end of September, was recently submitted to the Ministry of the Interior.
The total cost of the investigation is approximately £13 million.
Outgoing Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said last year that the Grange investigation would continue until they had nothing left to do.
German police officers once said they had “concrete evidence” of this. Madeleine was dead and Christian B was involved.
Madeleine disappeared from her family’s holiday home in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007 at the age of three.
Christian B, 45, was Identified as a suspect by police in 2020. He is serving a seven-year sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal.
The investigations against him are being conducted by German and Portuguese authorities, with the Met playing a background role.
In recent years, the Grange team has been reduced 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 making contact Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerryboth 54, from Rothley, Leics and keep them updated with developments.
It is understood the McCanns are aware of the imminent conclusion of the investigation and have vowed never to stop their hunt for Madeleine or her fate.
They are now likely to continue their search with money from a fund set up by the couple Help from wealthy double-glazing businessman Brian Kennedy.
The latest accounts from January show Madeline’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned after liabilities to £931,350.
The 15th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance falls this spring.
The case is still being treated as a missing person’s inquiry by the Met, although German police say Madeleine is presumed dead following her assassination.
She disappeared while sleeping in a bedroom with her twin brother and sister while her parents were having dinner with friends nearby.
Ex-Met Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville said: “It appears that the Met has run out of leads on the investigation.”
Madeleine would now be almost 19 and Mr Neville said it was still possible she was alive.
Never give up
By Antonella Lazzeri
FOR 15 years they have vowed never to give up. As they said, “How could parents 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 knew was likely to happen.
One of the most devastating things Kate found while going through the Portuguese police files was that a few weeks after her disappearance, “no one had been looking for Madeleine”.
But Operation Grange was a tremendous comfort to both of them.
There were false alarms, false hopes, ups and downs. But through it all, the couple has been praying for the best and preparing for the worst.
It’s a shame that after all these years of parents’ bickering, no one has been charged – not helped by the appalling early investigations by the police in Portugal.
But we congratulate the family for not wavering and staying determined to find answers about their girl’s disappearance. And we fully support them.
leads exist
By Mick Neville
Apparently the Met Police have run out of leads as they investigate.
Much effort has been expended to link the crime to convicted rapist and pedophile Christian B, but this has failed. No tangible evidence has been produced that he was ever involved.
The statements of the German prosecutor Hans Wolters that the authorities had “concrete evidence” were misinterpreted here.
The phrase means in German that the police have solid grounds to suspect someone and can legally question them.
It doesn’t mean hard proof like it does here. But there are still leads to follow, with social media images and any CCTV footage from the period.
If Madeleine is alive, her face will show up somewhere. In a passport database – even if it has a new name – or on social media sites. Even if it was just taken in the background of someone else’s photo.
We need answers. There is still excellent research to be done.
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https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/18004401/madeleine-mccann-inquiry-end/ Madeleine McCann’s investigation is being closed after 11 years as fears grow that the main suspect will NOT be charged
