A criminal linked with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been acquitted today. We take a look at the money spent on the 17-year-old case of the missing toddler
The main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been acquitted of unrelated sex offences.
Christian Brueckner, 47, was on trial in Germany accused of raping women and exposing himself to children in the Algarve. Currently nearing the end of a seven-year sentence for rape, his acquittal means he could walk free in months.
Madeleine, who would be 21 this year, was just three-years-old when she went missing from the resort of Praia de Luz in the Portuguese holiday region.
The toddler was sleeping in an apartment at the Ocean Club in Praia de Luz, Portugal, with her younger twin siblings, while her parents dined with friends at the complex. The adults had developed a rota system to check on the kids on May 3, 2007 and when it was Kate McCann’s turn to check on her daughter, she had vanished.
Kate and Madeleine’s father Gerry have never learned what happened to their daughter despite the 17-year police investigation. We take a closer look at how much this has cost along the way…
As of March this year, £13.2 million had been spent in the hunt to find Madeleine. Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom revealed the latest round of funding in response to a written parliamentary question by Conservative peer Lord Black of Brentwood. A total of £192,000 was granted by the Home Office for Operation Grange for the year 2024-5.
Lord Sharpe said: “Operation Grange’s special grant budget currently funds a team of three police officers and one member of police staff, all of whom operate on a part-time basis. Special grant funding is reviewed annually by the Home Office.
“The department also liaises regularly with the Operation Grange investigation team to assess progress and challenge the use of funds as necessary.”
Since Operation Grange was established in 2011, the cost of the search each year has massively fallen from £2.7 million spent in 2012 to £100,000 spent last year. The cost has faced criticism along the way, with some comparing the sums spent on the wide ranging investigation to less put into other missing persons’ cases.
But Madeleine’s father Gerry told BBC’s Fiona Bruce critics who claimed the “police shouldn’t be spending so much money so many years on” were “quite unfair”.
“I know it is a single missing child but there are millions of British tourists that go to the Algarve year on year and essentially you’ve got a British subject who is the subject of a crime,” he said. “And there were other crimes that came to light following Madeleine’s abduction that involved British tourists. So I think prosecuting it to a reasonable end is what you would expect.”
The full figures from the Met Police are:
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2011: £1,914,737.27
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2012: £2,746,633,32
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2013: £2,601,020,52
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2014: £2,470,448,28
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2015: £1,147950,22
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2016: £332,994.65
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2017: £294,990,59
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2018: £301,775,56
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2019: £292,045.24
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2020: £327,383,86
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2021: £324,044,54
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2022: £190,131.17
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2023: £100,000
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2024: £192,000
