Madeleine McCann Update: Investigators Get Huge $143K Boost as Prime Suspect in Tot's Disappearance is Set to Be Released From Prison
Police received a funding grant to continue their investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance.
April 18 2025, Published 3:30 p.m. ET
British police working the Madeleine McCann case have received a major boost in funding to continue their search for the missing toddler's killer as a prime suspect is set to be released, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Ministers approved a special Home Office grant totaling £108,000, around $143,000, to support the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Grange investigation.
McCann disappeared while on vacation with her parents in May 2007.
With the newly approved grant, British police have spent over £13million or $17.2million on the search.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Ministers have approved a request to provide up to £108,000 for Operation Grange in 2025-26. In line with our Special Grant processes funding for Operation Grange is approved on an annual basis."
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell, who oversees Operation Grange, said: "We continue to support Madeleine’s family to understand what happened on the evening of 3 May 2007 in Praia da Luz. Our thoughts remain with the family."
Scotland Yard's investigation team has been reduced as German police have headed the investigation for the last five years.
British police received a $143,000 funding grant for Operation Grange.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson shared: "We can confirm we have received funding from the Home Office for Operation Grange for the financial year 2025/26. Work remains ongoing to support colleagues in Germany and Portugal to find out what happened to Madeleine.
"The number of staff on the investigation team always remains under review and is flexed according to new information coming in or new lines of enquiry.
"At present there is one detective chief inspector, one detective constable and one member of police staff who are working on the operation. The team are undertaking other investigations alongside their work on Operation Grange."
German investigators zeroed in on suspect Christian Brueckner, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for rape in a separate case.
Police's prime suspect Christian Brueckner has not been charged in the McCann case.
While police held Brueckner, 48, as the prime suspect in the McCann's disappearance, Judge Ute Engemann – who cleared Brueckner of separate sex crime charges in October 2024 – condemned prosecutors' decision to name him as a suspect in the case.
Engemann said prosecutors branding the 48-year-old a "monster" and "pervert" made witnesses testimony from the unrelated sex crimes trial "almost worthless."
Although Brueckner has never been charged in the McCann case, he was allegedly linked to the crime through a call made to his mobile phone on the night the young girl went missing from her family's vacation apartment in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Portugal, on May 3, 2007.
The judge ultimately found Brueckner not guilty of three rape charges and two child abuse charges in Portugal.
Brueckner is set to be released from prison at the end of his seven year sentence from a separate case.
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Now, the police's prime suspect is set to be released from prison in a matter of weeks when his current sentence has concluded.
As RadarOnline.com revealed, a reporter who sat in on Brueckner's trial for months recently insisted he "should never go free."
He additionally told The Sun UK: "Prosecutors must be ready to charge him over the disappearance of Madeleine."
Meanwhile, British police stated they are continuing to investigate the McCann disappearance as a missing persons case as there is no evidence to support the toddler died. McCann, who went missing when she was three-years-old, would be 22 on May 12.
