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Madeleine McCann inquiry to end after 11 years – and chief suspect might not be charged

Parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann, Kate (L) and Gerry McCann (R) pose with an artist's impression of how their daughter might look now at the age of nine ahead of a press conference in central London on May 2, 2012 five years after Madeleine's disappearance while on a family holiday in Portugal. Aged three at the time, the artist's impression depicts how Madeleine may now look, based on family photos of her, along with childhood images of her parents. AFP PHOTO / LEON NEAL (Photo credit should read LEON NEAL/AFP/GettyImages)
Kate and Gerry McCann pose with an artist’s impression of how their daughter might look now (Picture: AFP)

The investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance could soon end, it has been claimed.

Operation Grange was launched by Scotland Yard four years after Maddie vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal.

She had been sleeping in the same room as her twin brother and sister while their parents dined at a tapas bar nearby.

Despite extensive searches and various police investigations, she has never been found.

Scotland Yard was given an extra £350,000 last July to allow a team of detectives to look into new lines of enquiry.

The total cost of investigations had been estimated to sit at £12.5 million.

But now, Operation Grange is reportedly disbanding.

A view of Praia da Luz beach in Lagos, Algarve, Portugal, on June 7, 2020, where the three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann was on holidays when she disappeared in 2007. Portuguese justice said to be questioning witnesses as part of the investigation into the 2007 disappearance of the British girl Madeleine McCann, whose case re-emerged on May 3, 2020 with the identification of a new German suspect. Photo by ABACAPRESS.COM
The McCann family had been on holiday in Praia da Luz in Algarve, Portugal (Credits: ABACA/PA Images)
Mobile phone data 'reveals where prime suspect was' when Madeleine McCann vanished
A new ‘prime suspect’ was announced last year in a major milestone for the inquiry (Picture: AFP/PA)

A source told The Sun: ‘The end of the road for Operation Grange is now in sight.

‘The team’s work is expected to be completed by autumn.

‘There are currently no plans to take the inquiry any further.’

The Sun also reports that Maddie’s parents, Gerry and Kate, have vowed to keep searching.

The wider investigation into the disappearance had seemingly turned a corner last year, when ‘prime suspect’ Christian B was revealed.

File photo dated 30/4/2017 of the parents of missing Madeleine McCann, Kate and Gerry McCann, who have denied receiving a letter from German police suggesting that she is dead. PA Photo. Issue date: Tuesday June 16, 2020. See PA story POLICE Portugal. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire
Kate and Gerry McCann will continue to search for Maddie (Picture: PA)

Christian B is currently in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.

He was said to have repeatedly worked at holiday apartments near to where Maddie went missing.

But the suspect – who German police claimed they had ‘concrete evidence’ on – has never been charged over her disappearance.

And now there are growing doubts that he ever will be.

In recent years, the Grange team had reduced in size from 40 staff to just four.

EMBARGOED TO 1915 WEDNESDAY JUNE 3 File photo dated 8/5/2007 of a police officer stands outside the apartment at the Ocean Club Hotel in Luz, Portugal, where Madeleine McCann went missing. A German prisoner has been identified as a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine, detectives have revealed. The Metropolitan Police have not named the man, 43, who is described as white with short blond hair, possibly fair, and about 6ft tall with a slim build. PA Photo. Issue date: Wednesday June 3, 2020. The German national is known to have been in and around Praia da Luz on the Algarve coast at the time Madeleine vanished on May 3 2007 while on holiday with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and her twin siblings Sean and Amelie. See PA story POLICE Portugal. Photo credit should read: Steve Parsons/PA Wire
A police officer outside the apartment at the Ocean Club Hotel where Madeleine McCann went missing (Picture: PA)

Last night, Met detective chief inspector Mick Neville told the Sun that there are ‘still excellent lines of inquiry.’

He added: ‘There are still leads to be followed, with social media images and any CCTV footage from the time.’

In May last year, Gerry and Kate released a statement saying they would never give up hope.

They said: ‘The Covid pandemic has made this year even more difficult for many reasons but thankfully the investigation to find Madeleine and her abductor has continued.

‘We hang on to the hope, however small, that we will see Madeleine again. As we have said repeatedly, we need to know what has happened to our lovely daughter, no matter what.

‘We are very grateful to the police for their continued efforts.’

The story so far of Madeleine McCann's disappearance

Kate and Gerry McCann went for dinner with friends on the evening of May 3 2007.

Members of the group frequently popped upstairs to the holiday apartment to check on the sleeping children.

At 10pm, Kate discovered that the room’s window was open and Madeleine had gone.

The subsequent search for the three-year-old has been ongoing for 14 years.

The McCanns themselves were suspects to begin with, partly due to a misinterpretation of DNA evidence.

Portugese police dropped the investigation in 2008, but Scotland Yard would later set up their own dedicated inquiry.

Several leads were followed through the years but no major progress made.

Christian Brueckner, the newest prime suspect in the case, was identified in June last year.

He lived in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007.

He also has ‘numerous’ previous convictions for ‘sexual abuse of children’, according to Germany’s federal criminal police office.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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