Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick has stated detectives will continue searching for Madeleine McCann until the investigation reaches its conclusion.
Ms Dick has spoken out after Scotland Yard’s Operation Grange was given a £150,000 boost from the Home Office last month, sparking outrage from the Police Federation, some former Met officers and numerous members of the public.
Some individuals have argued the money should instead have be directed towards addressing the high level of homicides, knife crime and terrorism in London.
Ms Dick said the Met was still short of cash despite Home Secretary Sajid Javid’s recent pledge of an extra £970 million to police forces across the country, in a bid to curtail knife crime. This boost would bring the total funding amount up to £14 billion.
Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Javid said:
Our policemen and women are the very best in the world and do an incredible job keeping us all safe.
Coming from a policing family I recognise the bravery, dedication and commitment they display – day in, day out.
In my first month as Home Secretary I stood in front of the Police Federation and made a commitment.
A commitment to listen to the police about the challenges they face. A commitment to understand their needs. A commitment to give them my full, unwavering support.
I have listened and kept to every promise I made.
According to Ms Dick, the Met might benefit from an additional £84 million if London mayor Sadiq Khan chose to generate the maximum amount permissible through increasing council tax. However, this might still not be enough to save jobs. Operation Grange would not be affected.
Addressing the criticism, Ms Dick made the following comments according to The Daily Star:
I was there when it was set up originally.
I remember when this piece of work was started and why.
I was an AC at the time.
I can understand why some people may feel differently but I think it is quite right that we should continue until it has reached its conclusion.
Ms Dick added:
I am quite happy it should continue until we find out what happened or we have exhausted all possible lines of inquiry,
It’s not a huge amount of money and it’s not large number of officers.
Launched in May 2011, Operation Grange is an ongoing investigative review into the disappearance of Madeleine.The review was launched after the initial Portuguese investigation received criticism from British Authorities.
Scotland Yard has so far spent almost £12 million of taxpayers money on the investigation, however as of yet nobody has been charged.
Some individuals believe the investigation continues to take precedence over other cases of missing and vulnerable children, whose stories remain comparatively under-discussed and under-investigated.
Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann have never given up hope of their daughter, who disappeared in 2007, being found alive.
Speaking at a Missing People charity service earlier this month, Kate encouraged other parents of missing children to ‘never give up’.
As reported by The Mirror, Kate McCann offered the following message of support to Bek Stratfield, whose son Finnian Layland-Stratfield disappeared approximately 18 months ago:
Just maybe tomorrow will be the day we find something to lead us back to Madeleine and to know what happened.
It gives us hope. Never give up hope.
December 25, 2018, will mark the McCann family’s 12th Christmas without Madeleine who disappeared at the age of three while holidaying in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.