Madeleine McCann investigation: Met operation scaled down from 29 officers to four

Vanished: Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007
Ramzy Alwakeel28 October 2015
WEST END FINAL

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The police search for Madeleine McCann is to be scaled down from 29 officers to four, Scotland Yard has announced.

An average of three sightings a day of the missing girl, who would now be 12 years old, have been reported since her disappearance in May 2007, and the Home Office has spent £10 million on the investigation.

But the task of collating evidence from international police forces and private investigators is now complete, police said, and only four people are needed to still work full-time on finding Madeleine.

Her parents Gerry and Kate said in a statement: “We would like to thank all the staff from Operation Grange for the meticulous and painstaking work that they have carried out over the last four-and-a-half years.

“The scale and difficulty of their task has never been in doubt.

“We are reassured that the investigation to find Madeleine has been significantly progressed and the MPS has a much clearer picture of the events in Praia da Luz leading up to Madeleine’s abduction in 2007.

“Given that the review phase of the investigation is essentially completed, we fully understand the reasons why the team is being reduced.

“We would also like to thank the Home Office for continuing to support the investigation.

“Whilst we do not know what happened to Madeleine, we remain hopeful that she may still be found given the ongoing lines of enquiry.”

An average of 200 e-mails a week were sent to the investigation team, the Met said, and after collating tens of thousands of documents 560 lines of enquiry were identified.

More than 60 people have been investigated and 650 sex offenders have been considered and eliminated from the enquiry.

The McCanns shut down the official Find Madeleine Twitter account earlier this month after receiving "incessant" abuse from online trolls - some of whom were reportedly supporting the search for Ben Needham, who disappeared in Greece at the age of two in 1991.

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