Special Madeleine McCann case to close after 11 years - what we know

Madeleine was three years old when she went missing on May 3, 2007 while on holiday in Portugal.

Her disappearance sparked one of the most high-profile missing persons searches in history.

Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann have vowed to never give up looking for their daughter.

Parents Kate and Gerry McCann, pictured. Photo via PA.

What is Operation Grange?

The Metropolitan Police launched Operation Grange in 2011 at the request of the then-Home Secretary Theresa May, sparking hopes in the Madeleine McCann case.

The Met worked alongside experts across investigating forces in Europe, largely giving the lead to Portuguese authorities pursuing specific lines of enquiry.

But now the special police investigation is due to be brought to an end, according to insider sources.

Speaking to The Sun, a source said: "There are currently no plans to take the inquiry any further.

“The end of the road for Operation Grange is now in sight. The team’s work is expected to be completed by autumn.”

It has left some people raising questions about whether or not the case’s prime suspect will be charged with Madeleine's disappearance.

In May 2020, Scotland Yard, working with German and Portuguese authorities, received 'hundreds of calls and emails' from the public in a renewed missing person's appeal.

A German prisoner became the main suspect in the joint investigation, a 43-year-old man named in media reports as Christian Brueckner.

He is reportedly serving a seven-year prison sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal in 2005.

Though Christian Breuckner has denied all claims against him in the Madeleine McCann case.

Between 2013 and 2020, Operation Grange had received £12.3 million in funding.

Investigators still consider the case a missing person inquiry because there is no “definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead”.