British police have launched a renewed push for funding in the search for missing girl Madeleine McCann, with reports the latest funding in the decade-long investigation is due to expire on March 31.
Madeleine was three years old on May 3, 2007 when she disappeared from a hotel room in Portugal while on a family holiday.
At the time, in a statement, father Gerry McCann made an appeal to the public to safely locate the three-year-old.
"Please, if you have Madeleine, let her come home to her Mummy, Daddy, brother and sister," Mr McCann said at the time.
Since then, the investigation has spanned thousands of kilometres as parents Kate and Gerry McCann have consistently held out hope for their daughter's return.
In September 2007, four months after their daughter's disappearance, the McCann family returned to England.
The McCann's released a book about their ordeal in November, 2010.
During a book launch event in Madrid, Spain in October, 2011, Mr McCann told media that the family were still focused on what could be done.
"The first two or three days, we felt incredibly guilty and were paralyzed with grief and emotion and I realised quite quickly that crying all day wasn't helping bring Madeleine back," Mr McCann said in 2011.
"So we had to focus our attention on what could still be done."
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In May of 2011, the UK's Met Police set up Operation Grange.
The investigation is estimated to have cost the British taxpayer millions of dollars.
Multiple suspects have been identified since 2008 and in July 2013, 38 "persons of interest" were identified.
Portugese police re-opened the inquiry in October 2013 after resources were taken off the case in July 2008.
Portugal is yet to close the 2013 investigation.
After further funding was secured in 2019, the investigation was continued and in June 2020, British police announced they had a suspect in sight, but no further announcements have since been made.
It is understood the latest round of funding was approved in July 2021, and is due to run out at the end of March.
Madeleine would now be 18 years old.