Funding requests for Operation Grange

I hope Richard Spicks on twitter doesn't mind me putting his tweet up...……….

RichardSpicks‏ @RichardSpicks · 1h1 hour ago  

#McCann

Madeleine McCann investigation gets more funding

                                          

The Metropolitan Police had asked last month for more money to pursue "active lines of inquiries".

Wednesday 5 June 2019 16:36, UK
 

 
The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been given an extra year of funding by the Home Office, Sky sources say.
The Metropolitan Police had asked for more money last month to pursue "active lines of inquiries".


Madeleine was last seen aged three while on holiday with her parents and her brother and sister, who are twins, in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.
After a Portuguese inquiry into her disappearance floundered, the Met opened its own investigation, Operation Grange, in 2013, which has so far cost £11.75m.
The Met must apply for Home Office funding every six months to continue the inquiry

Last November, a further £150,000 was granted.

Kate and Gerry McCann, Madeleine's parents, have always said they will never to give up the search for their daughter.


Last year, on the 11th anniversary of her disappearance, the couple used the official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page to thank supporters for their "persisting solidarity", saying it "gets harder to know what to say or write" as the years go on.


https://news.sky.com/story/madeleine-mccann-investigation-gets-more-funding-11735565

An extra year....

Most odd in my view. It reminds me of Gerry's early statement of future planned events to keep Madeleine's disappearance in the public eye when she could have been found at any time.

candyfloss wrote:An extra year....

Clearly no sense of urgency. Madeleine dead and they know it.

froggy wrote:

candyfloss wrote:An extra year....

Clearly no sense of urgency.  Madeleine dead and they know it.

My personal opinion is that I think Kate and Gerry would much rather see this inquiry end than carry on. As long as Grange keeps getting funded, there can be no closure for the McCanns - nor can they ever rest easy thinking that they're off the hook. The prospect of new DNA technology and other improved investigative techniques looms over them indefinitely. I know the mandate of Grange was NOT to investigate the parents as potential suspects... but that's the public face of Grange. I've always believed there may be a secondary investigation that we know nothing about - be it in Portugal and under the auspices of the police there - or back in the UK, with Grange as its "cover".

MADDIE TROLLS
Madeleine McCann’s parents slam ‘despicable’ trolls bombarding them with hate mail after £11.75m probe gets extra £300k funding

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9262826/madeleine-mccann-parents-hate-mail/


I won't bother copying any further.....

Madeleine McCann: Police figures lay bare staggering amount spent on investigation

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1322499/madeleine-mccann-operation-grange-met-police-scotland-yard-spending-portugal-spt

The Met confirmed to Express.co.uk that the total spend of the probe, from May 2011 to April 2020 was £12,124,870.46.

Speaking to Express.co.uk exclusively though, investigative journalist and former detective in the Surrey Police Mark Williams-Thomas questioned what the money had been spent on.

He said: “There was a considerable amount of support provided in the initial days, weeks, months and years of the investigation.

“But, thereafter, they provided support because they were sharing information and making enquiries on behalf of the Portuguese for the British elements of the inquiry.

“One of the biggest questions I cannot answer is where on Earth £12million has been spent.

“I am at a loss to explain the huge scale of that figure.”

where on Earth £12million has been spent

A better question is "Why has £12 million been spent?". Presumably to protect someone, but who is worth that huge amount?

More money to keep the gravy train on the rails. It is Tracey Kandohla in The Sun so you know what to expect!

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/19983178/madeleine-mccann-parents-joy-search-continues/

Pat Brown has commented.

Maddie, if she was abducted and brought up by another family, would be nearly 19 years old now. She could even be married. I was at that age.
And suddenly these two psychos turn up and claim her!
Just tell me the point in that.

There are cases where a baby kidnapped from a hospital has been found by their natural parents many years later.

I wonder if in situations like this the people involved were able to form any relationships.

Not of course I believe that the McCann case is like this.

Madeleine would have been 19 in May.

LBC: To receive up to £192,000
Evening Standard: To receive up to a further £192,000
Daily Mail: Is granted another £192,000

Why?

Which is it to be?

That's a very exact amount, does it include the groceries?

i am surprised too. i know other countries had their uprising of the prices too, but that a train ticket to braunschweig had become so pricey is unexpected. i expect it they had to travel, it must be in the most sustainable, often called green ways.

it would become a bit all over the top if they again find another suspect in countries with more sun, the weather is everywhere still a bit hard to predict for a nice week away from the offices.

or it must work like the old days in the netherlands, if these kind of little pots of money would not be emptied out in a specific period of time, it would no longer available and routed to another little pot of money.

i just listened to the newest podcast from bild, and even kai feldhaus spoke about the prosecution having a hard time in the ongoing processes of the one it must be of doing it.
he took that from noticing that mrs. head of the judge team has shown little patience with the witnesses they had before them.
he is not even sure if cb is the one who did it, but he still has a bit of trust in german justice, so it becomes just a wait and see. he also thinks it looks more as a kind of examination of the witnesses, to see if the indications will take hold enough to be reused in a maybe once upon a time madeleine court case.

never expected that even justice would find greenwashing acceptable or even found a way to do it.

pretty silent who is out today to bore mrs. head of the judges. if that one paid by the home office team player has to take the stand this week, it must be today or tomorrow. you would at least fo0r one of them a massive sale of train and flight tickets from the uk.

tickets that also have to be paid by the uk public, in real money, virtual ones, or just getting lost in the adds of course.

the germans looked to have found enough other very bad german nationals to write about, they just have an mass nicked the news from the latest pay out to grange. but to read that at least 20 times is boring, so i wait for a bit, half time seems less popular lately, so it could be even after court finished for today.

but this case is simply quite a game changer, now english immigrants living in spain are supposed to take interest in a german case, about only german nationals and an very old van in germany, but not that old, but it had maybe even was on the road before it rolled from the lines.

the usa magazines online are not even noticing they produce news from well over a year old, that is long know to fake news. not alone on facebook, but they put it on their very own websites too.
so someone must have feed the wrong instructions to their ai.

This is nothing new, in fact it's quite ancient but it does slightly guide towards quite how the police force allocate resources granted. Add it to another old publication by the home office about how when and where they decide on grant allocation it goes to show a general misconception of how internal procedures work.

From the general reaction you'd think £xm have been granted to operation grange so you imagine them all sitting around all day with nothing to do but swat flies. This is not the reality.

It doesn't of course justify the £xm granted by the home office over the years. Kate McCann forgot to mention her thanks in the latest anniversary spiel.

https://www.met.police.uk/foi-ai/metropolitan-police/disclosure-2023/may-2023/funding-on-the-madeleine-mccann-case/


Funding on the Madeleine McCann case

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.029710

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. Can you advise, exactly how much funding (£) has been spent on the missing child Madeleine investigation since her disappearance.
2. Can you advise how many officer hours have been spent on this investigation since her disappearance (Metpol) only and that cost.
3. Can you advise how many officers continue to be employed in the current investigation?
Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Q1 - Can you advise, exactly how much funding (£) has been spent on the missing child Madeleine investigation since her disappearance.

Expenditure as at 30th September 2022 was £12,944,155. The final figure for the current financial year is not yet available. This is because a period of time needs to elapse following the end of the financial year in order to enable any invoices or receipts to be submitted and entered onto our systems.

Please note that this figure relates to costs incurred by the MPS only in relation to Operation Grange. It does not include costs incurred by other investigators domestically and internationally, or private investigators who have been commissioned by several non-police bodies.

Q2 - Can you advise how many officer hours have been spent on this investigation since her disappearance (Metpol) only and that cost.

The MPS does not routinely compile the amount of officer hours spent on individual operations. Consequently, as the Freedom of Information Act makes no requirement for public authorities to create new information in order to respond to requests, this information is not held for the purposes of the Act. The right of access extends to recorded information only.

Q3 - Can you advise how many officers continue to be employed in the current investigation?

At this stage there are 5 members of the MPS working on this case. 1 Senior Investigating Officer (0.4), 1 Consultant (0.2) and 2 Detective Constables (both working 0.4 each). One officer works as a Family Liaison Officer as and when required. Therefore the actual total staff count is equivalent to 1.4 full time members of staff.

https://www.gbnews.com/news/madeleine-mccann-investigation-metropolitan-police-peter-bleksley

'Languishing' Met Police's four-man Madeleine McCann team blasted by ex-detective - 'Only there to keep the lights on!'

By James Saunders

Published: 14/05/2024

Peter Bleksley said the four-person force's extra funding "just about keeps the lights on" and claimed the team itself "just exists to keep Kate and Gerry McCann happy"

A four-person Metropolitan Police team working on the Madeleine McCann case has been slammed as "languishing" and "struggling to justify its existence" by a former Met detective as the hunt for Maddie enters its 17th year.

Just four British police officers are still investigating Madeleine McCann's 2007 disappearance in Portugal as part of an ongoing Home Office-funded investigation, known has Operation Grange.

Overseas, investigations are still underway - not least in Germany, where rapist Christian Brueckner remains on trial for unrelated offences, but has been identified as a suspect in the McCann case by German authorities.

But Peter Bleksley, a former Metropolitan Police detective, has slated the force amid reports that a mere three officers alongside a civilian member of staff are involved in Operation Grange in the UK - and, at that, part-time.

Bleksley told GB News: "The Metropolitan Police are pretty low down the food chain. They've played second fiddle to the Portuguese, and they've since been pushed even further down because the Germans have taken the primary lead... The Met are languishing, while the others are trying to find work to do.

Bleksley said the Met were "covering their backs, so that if convictions were made in the UK, they can say: "We did our bit'"

He acknowledged that while Christian Brueckner's committed and alleged crimes did not relate to the UK, the Met were "covering their backs, so that if convictions were made in the UK, they can say: "We did our bit'."

Bleksley said the money being diverted to the four-man force "just about keeps the lights on" and claimed the team itself "just exists to keep Kate and Gerry McCann happy", adding that he understood the public's "frustration" over why said funds weren't going towards solving other crimes.

The Met has previously talked up how it "continues to work with and support" colleagues from police in Portugal - where Maddie vanished - and Germany.

In 2013, the status of the force's inquiries changed to an investigation which, alongside Portuguese authorities, entails pursuing "specific lines of enquiry" - but just two years later, the amount of police working on the case had been scaled back to 29.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told GB News that the number of staff on Operation Grange always remains under review and is "flexed accordingly to new information coming in, or new lines of enquiry".

They continued: "At present there is one detective chief inspector, two detective constables and one member of police staff who are working on the operation.

"The team are undertaking other investigations, alongside their work on Grange."

The detective chief inspector in charge, DCI Mark Cranwell, said: "We continue to support Madeleine’s family to understand what happened on the evening of May 3, 2007 in Praia da Luz. Our thoughts remain with the family."

Bleksley's blasting of the Met came just as Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate, marked their daughter's 21st birthday.

Sharing a picture of the missing Briton on the official Find Madeleine McCann Campaign Facebook page, the girl's parents vowed never to give up looking.

A short but heartfelt message simply read: "Happy 21st Birthday Madeleine. Still missing. Still missed. Still looking."

The image of Madeleine shared along with the message is one of the last ever pictures taken of her before she disappeared aged three.

And their birthday message comes fewer than 10 days after Kate and Gerry shared another update to mark the 17th anniversary of their child's disappearance, which admitted Madeleine's "absence still aches", they said they were "living in limbo".

But Peter Bleksley, a former Metropolitan Police detective, has slated the force amid reports that a mere three officers alongside a civilian member of staff are involved in Operation Grange in the UK - and, at that, part-time.

Bleksley told GB News: "The Metropolitan Police are pretty low down the food chain. They've played second fiddle to the Portuguese, and they've since been pushed even further down because the Germans have taken the primary lead... The Met are languishing, while the others are trying to find work to do.

He acknowledged that while Christian Brueckner's committed and alleged crimes did not relate to the UK, the Met were "covering their backs, so that if convictions were made in the UK, they can say: "We did our bit'."

Bleksley said the money being diverted to the four-man force "just about keeps the lights on" and claimed the team itself "just exists to keep Kate and Gerry McCann happy", adding that he understood the public's "frustration" over why said funds weren't going towards solving other crimes.

The Met has previously talked up how it "continues to work with and support" colleagues from police in Portugal - where Maddie vanished - and Germany.

In 2013, the status of the force's inquiries changed to an investigation which, alongside Portuguese authorities, entails pursuing "specific lines of enquiry" - but just two years later, the amount of police working on the case had been scaled back to 29.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told GB News that the number of staff on Operation Grange always remains under review and is "flexed accordingly to new information coming in, or new lines of enquiry".

They continued: "At present there is one detective chief inspector, two detective constables and one member of police staff who are working on the operation.

"The team are undertaking other investigations, alongside their work on Grange."

The detective chief inspector in charge, DCI Mark Cranwell, said: "We continue to support Madeleine’s family to understand what happened on the evening of May 3, 2007 in Praia da Luz. Our thoughts remain with the family."

Bleksley's blasting of the Met came just as Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate, marked their daughter's 21st birthday.

Sharing a picture of the missing Briton on the official Find Madeleine McCann Campaign Facebook page, the girl's parents vowed never to give up looking.

A short but heartfelt message simply read: "Happy 21st Birthday Madeleine. Still missing. Still missed. Still looking."

The image of Madeleine shared along with the message is one of the last ever pictures taken of her before she disappeared aged three.

And their birthday message comes fewer than 10 days after Kate and Gerry shared another update to mark the 17th anniversary of their child's disappearance, which admitted Madeleine's "absence still aches", they said they were "living in limbo".

"just exists to keep Kate and Gerry McCann happy"

That's an interesting comment.

Of course the lights are on, the case is open and unsolved so the lights will always be on.

Like Mark Williams-Thomas, Bleksley is never far away. I'm surprised an ex-officer with so much to say has so little grasp on how the system works.