Cost of Madeleine McCann inquiry set to reach £10 million

[stephen25000]

You mean they are investigating only the possibility of abduction?

As if they would only do that.

[Admin]

Police investigation into disappearance of Madeleine McCann has cost £8million since child vanished without a trace from Portuguese holiday apartment in 2007

By Jennifer Smith for MailOnline

Published: 29 November 2014

• Leicestershire Police given almost £1million in grants from Home Office
• In 2011 investigation was handed over to Metropolitan Police detectives
• David Cameron set a provisional budget for £5million for the investigation
• Operation Grange has cost around £2million every year for three years
• Home Office said 2014 expenditure likely to be 'broadly in line' with past

An investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has cost almost £8million since the child went missing in Portugal in 2007, new figures have revealed.

Metropolitan Police has spent nearly £5million paying police officers involved in Operation Grange, the special investigation unit set up in 2011 by David Cameron.

More than £100,000 has been spent on the transport of British authorities to and from Portugal where Madeleine was taken from her bed in the holiday resort of Praia de Luz.



The hunt for missing Madeleine McCann has cost police almost £8million since the child disappeared from
her family's holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007.

Madeleine was just three when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment while her parents ate dinner nearby.

Kate and Gerry McCann have fought a tireless campaign to find their missing daughter since, regularly appealing to police to keep the investigation into her disappearance active.

Figures revealed via a Freedom of Information request showed the full cost of the investigation to date.

Months after the three-year-old vanished, Leicestershire Constabulary was awarded two grants by the Home Office to help fund their efforts.

In 2008 they received £525,000 and were awarded a further £221,000 the following year before the case was handed over to Metropolitan Police.

David Cameron set out a budget of £5million upon the establishment of Operation Grange in 2011. In its first year, the unit cost close to £2million, with the vast majority of expenses attributed to police officer and staff pay.

Between 2012 and 2013, the most expensive leg of the investigation to date, £2.7million was spent on transport, salaries, overtime and premises cost.

While figures for 2013 and 2014 has not yet been finalised, the Home Office said it expected them 'to be broadly in line with previous years'.

The McCanns also enlisted the services of a small team of private investigators to help with the search.



The McCanns media adviser Clarence Mitchell (left) with private investigator/former detective Dave Edgar.

This week the couple said they would welcome an underwater search of a lake near the holiday complex from which she disappeared.

Officers are not thought to have carried out a full search of the man-made Barragem da Bravura reservoir, despite reports of a rain-sodden letter appearing on the first anniversary of her disappearance which claimed the child's body had been hidden there.

Portuguese police are eager to speak to a number of suspects including a British ex-pat living in Praia de Luz at the time of Madeleine's disappearance, a Portuguese newspaper claimed.

Robert Murat said he would be happy to cooperate with authorities investigating her disappearance, despite already being interviewed in relation to the case.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2853911/Madeleine-McCann-investigation-cost-Home-Office-8million-launching-2007-2million-year-spent-hunt-missing-British-child.html#ixzz3KW1RoenQ

   
     
   
   

[Matthew Wyse]

What an awful waste of public funds.   Im glad I dont live in the uk if this is how money is wasted these days.

[carlymichelle]

What an awful waste of public funds.   Im glad I dont live in the uk if this is how money is wasted these days.

same   no disrespect to maddie but there are other missing  children in the uk  are there  not?

[Carana]

same   no disrespect to maddie but there are other missing  children in the uk  are there  not?

Indeed. The publicity surrounding this disappearance has highlighted that fact.

There are also British children who were abused in Portugal and the perp never caught. Whether or not there is any connection, the investigation may help to find that creep - who may strike again, wherever he may be.

Or do you disagree?

[sadie]

Indeed. The publicity surrounding this disappearance has highlighted that fact.

There are also British children who were abused in Portugal and the perp never caught. Whether or not there is any connection, the investigation may help to find that creep - who may strike again, wherever he may be.

Or do you disagree?

I tend to agree Carana

Something tells me that this investigation will open up and cover several field of Criminal activity, including trafficking.  I hope so.

[Brietta]

Indeed. The publicity surrounding this disappearance has highlighted that fact.

There are also British children who were abused in Portugal and the perp never caught. Whether or not there is any connection, the investigation may help to find that creep - who may strike again, wherever he may be.

Or do you disagree?

Benice has told us that cleaning chewing gum off our streets every year costs us around £60m. 

SIXTY MILLION POUNDS!!!

If you think about that very carefully it puts the cost of investigating the disappearance of a little girl into some sort of perspective. 
 
As a direct result of the appeal for information in Madeleine's case, people who were abused as children in Portugal while on holiday might get some justice. 
At the least they have been given a sympathetic hearing and more importantly have been believed instead of being called liars by those who have been in denial that such a thing had ever happened to them.   

[bros]

If I am pissed off media that lost millions in label damages, can I contribute  to funds Metropolitan police uses for investigation such as this to finally reach the truth? Just curious.

[jassi]

Benice has told us that cleaning chewing gum off our streets every year costs us around £60m. 

SIXTY MILLION POUNDS![/b]!!

If you think about that very carefully it puts the cost of investigating the disappearance of a little girl into some sort of perspective. 
 
As a direct result of the appeal for information in Madeleine's case, people who were abused as children in Portugal while on holiday might get some justice. 
At the least they have been given a sympathetic hearing and more importantly have been believed instead of being called liars by those who have been in denial that such a thing had ever happened to them.   

I figure much bandied about on here.

I would like to know who calculated this sum of nearly 2 million a day, as I, for one, find it very difficult to believe.

[Anna]

I figure much bandied about on here.

I would like to know who calculated this sum of nearly 2 million a day, as I, for one, find it very difficult to believe.

Does that not equate to £164,383 a day. I apologize and please correct me, if I misunderstood your post.

[jassi]

Does that not equate to £164,383 a day. I apologize and please correct me, if I misunderstood your post.

Woops, yes , out by a factor of 10.  More like a million and a bit  each week.
I really don't suppose, however, that street-cleaning budgets are broken down to specifically identify the cost of chewing gum.

[Brietta]

I figure much bandied about on here.

I would like to know who calculated this sum of nearly 2 million a day, as I, for one, find it very difficult to believe.

I HAVE posted a link to this earlier ... I shall do so again, as you obviously have difficulty using a search engine.

http://www.local.gov.uk/media-releases/-/journal_content/56/10180/6745145/NEWS

That is for England and Wales.

I have no idea what it may be in NI ... but Wednesday's Scottish Herald (Dec 10th) put Scotland's share of the European £10Billion for litter, which I presume is inclusive of chewing gum cleaning at £73mill.

One must also remember that is not inclusive of the costs of private businesses who carry out cleaning of courtyards and quadrangles sometimes twice per annum.

[Brietta]

Woops, yes , out by a factor of 10.  More like a million and a bit  each week.
I really don't suppose, however, that street-cleaning budgets are broken down to specifically identify the cost of chewing gum.

Although a huge sum ... eight million pounds for three years professional work ... pales into insignificance beside what it costs to clean chewing gum off our streets.

[faithlilly]

Just to put some perspective on the money being spent on SY's investigation.

The Chilcot Inquiry into the 2003 invasion of Iraq has taken six years to date and has cost £10 million. It is nearing its completion.
The SY review and investigation has has taken 4 years and has cost an estimated £10 million. There is no end in sight.

How can more money being spent on the McCann investigation be justified ? Is it time to say enough ?

[Alfred R Jones]

Just to put some perspective on the money being spent on SY's investigation.

The Chilcot Inquiry into the 2003 invasion of Iraq has taken six years to date and has cost £10 million. It is nearing its completion.
The SY review and investigation has has taken 4 years and has cost an estimated £10 million. There is no end in sight.

How can more money being spent on the McCann investigation be justified ? Is it time to say enough ?

Would you like there to have been an amount set aside for the investigation, which when it ran out would mean investigation over?  And if so, how much would you deem the correct amount to spend?