James Murray, Express: ’We still have work to do’ Madeleine McCann police vow to continue search

’We still have work to do’ Madeleine McCann police vow to continue search


DETECTIVES searching for Madeleine McCann have vowed to “see the investigation through” and said: “It’s not finished until it’s finished.”

By JAMES MURRAY, EXCLUSIVE
PUBLISHED: 00:01, Sun, Aug 27, 2017
They will not stop their inquiry until they have conclusively established what happened to her, insiders said.

A source said: ‘‘The detectives are trying with as much energy as they did when Operation Grange started in 2011 to see this through and find her.

“That is all they can do. Their view on how long that will take is that it will only be finished when it is finished. They still have work to do and while that is the case they will carry on.

It emerged last week that senior Yard officers are considering a further request for six months of financial support from the Home Office, even though current funding does not run out until the end of next month.

Policing minister Mike Penning is expected to agree to further funding, costing around £90,000, but as he is relatively new in the job sources suggest he wants to know specific details of where the investigation is going and how close the Yard is to solving the mystery.

Mr Penning’s predecessor, Brandon Lewis, was fully supportive of the Yard’s efforts and was well briefed on the case, but senior officers know they are now dealing with a new minister and will have to give a fuller account of how the Home Office’s £11million has been spent so far and why more money is needed.

While the funding issue will be addressed in the coming weeks, sources say Kate and Gerry McCann are impressed by the continued commitment of the Yard team, headed by Detective Chief Superintendent Nicola Wall.

“There is no sense of wanting to throw in the towel.”

The team of four detectives working on Operation Grange have painstakingly probed a variety of theories, including the possibility that Madeleine was taken from her holiday apartment on May 3, 2007 at Praia da Luz on the Algarve when a burglary went wrong.

At the time of the tenth anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance last May, Scotland Yard announced they had stopped their investigation into Portuguese burglary suspects as they “did not find any evidence to further implicate the individuals in the disappearance”.

Earlier this year the Sunday Express reported that detectives were urgently seeking a woman who, it was felt, had important information on the case. Scotland Yard have said they will not comment on specific lines of inquiry or give a running commentary on what work they are doing.

The lines of inquiry being pursued now have become more complicated than at first thought, which is causing delays and some frustration.

Madeleine, who was nearly four when she vanished without trace from her family’s rented holiday apartment, would now be 14.

A spokesman for the McCann family said: “The fact that the police feel there is still work to be done which needs funding is very encouraging. They remain grateful to all the officers in the investigation.”

Scotland Yard said: “Funding is in place until the end of September. Any details about future funding will be released when appropriate.”

The Home Office said any further funding request will be “considered carefully”.

Meanwhile freelance journalist Sonia Poulton is looking for a TV firm to broadcast a documentary she has made on the case.

She said: “I have been working with a production company and we have been to Portugal and spoken with many people.”

Kate and Gerry McCann, both 49, of Rothley, Leicestershire, have been trying to stop trolling over the case. Their web site states: “Please do not feed trolls. Trolls feed on havoc and causing chaos.”

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Hey ho - weekend again. 

Just like the old days when the team paid Lords and Ladies to keep them on the front pages.

Now who pays the ferryman - or is Clari-fication still on a retainer?

The team of four detectives working on Operation Grange have painstakingly probed a variety of theories, including the possibility that Madeleine was taken from her holiday apartment on May 3, 2007 at Praia da Luz on the Algarve when a burglary went wrong

They have painstakingly avoided the bleedin' obvious one.

No bog-standard policing here.

Taken from the original article:

"
A source said: ‘‘The detectives are trying with as much energy as they did when Operation Grange started in 2011 to see this through and find her."


“That is all they can do. Their view on how long that will take is that it will only be finished when it is finished. They still have work to do and while that is the case they will carry on."

How can the source say that it will only be finished when it is finished and that while it is the case they will carry on.  Surely that statement could ony be made if funding had already been agreed but the article goes on to say that a decision has yet to be made by the new Minister.

Who is the source btw?   It doesn't say a police source said so who exactly has  given the paper this information?

Another article which to me doesn't make any kind of sense.

Why does the new amount need to be £90,000 when the previous extended amount for the previous last roll of the dice was £80,000?

It would be good, I think, if the papers would start asking a source when the court fees will be paid off or letting their readers know whether that has already been done.

YAWN.

The report contradicts itself stating on one hand that Op. Grange refuses to

 "comment on specific lines of inquiry or give a running commentary on what work they are doing"

 yet states that S.Y. have said 

 "The lines of inquiry being pursued now have become more complicated than at first thought, which is causing delays and some frustration.".


Is it the international manhunt for the missing Ocean Club worker or the search for Ms. Purple that is throwing the spanner in the works? Or, then again, the scrabble for a suitable patsy might be a tad difficult.

And Poulton gets a mention, really? really?