Kate McCann (left) and her missing daughter Madeleine (right)
(Picture: ES composite )Scotland Yard is set to end its investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, according to reports.
Operation Grange was launched four years after Maddie, then three, was abducted from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in Portugal, in 2007.
Police were given an extra £350k in July 2021 to continue to the inquiry, which had already cost around £12.5 million.
A source told The Sun: “There are currently no plans to take the inquiry any further.”
Detectives are said to be frustrated by the failure to compile sufficient evidence to prosecute Christian Brueckner, a convicted paedophile, who was named two years ago by German police as the prime suspect for Madeleine’s abduction.
Brueckner’s lawyer Friedrich Fulscher has repeatedly insisted the German was not involved in the little girl’s disappearance.
A source quoted by the newspaper added: “The end of the road for Operation Grange is now in sight. The team’s work is expected to be completed by autumn. There are currently no plans to take the inquiry any further.”
The paper said it was understood that Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate, are aware of the impending closure but have vowed to continue their search.
Brueckner is in prison in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal.
The suspect “repeatedly worked” at the holiday apartments in Portugal where she went missing, according to a documentary on the case aired earlier this year.
During the documentary, an anonymous witness alleged Brueckner was employed by a company that “repeatedly carried out repair work” at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz.
The Metropolitan Police have so far maintained their active investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance is a missing person inquiry as there is no “definitive evidence whether she is alive or dead”.
The Met Police has been contacted for comment.
