Parents of missing Madeleine McCann hopeful with two new leads in case

According to new reports, Scotland Yard has told the parents of the girl who was allegedly kidnapped in 2007 they have 'two specific and active' leads that could mean they are getting closer to catch the perpetrator.

The Operation Grange team reportedly has recent encouraging news for Madeleine McCann’s parents Kate and Gerry, both 50, as it has surfaced that the pursuit of the missing child will keep going, Daily Mail revealed.

The parents-of-three just met with Scotland Yard, as eleven and a half years have passed since Madeleine’s disappearance, and they were glad to learn that the investigation will continue at least until Spring 2019.

The UK’s Home Office department approved another £150,000 (roughly $190.000) for the operation to go on until March 31. Read more on our Twitter account @amomama_usa

Since 2011, when the British inquiry was launched following a Portuguese and private-funded investigation, the Home Office has destined £11.75 million ($15 million) of taxpayers' money for the high-profile search.

Former policemen David Edgar, who once worked for the McCann’s as a private investigator believes that Madeleine could still be alive, although by now she probably doesn’t even know who she is.

“Metropolitan Police officers had a sit-down meeting with Madeleine's parents to tell them exactly where they were with their inquiries,” a source from the governmental department shared with Daily Mail.

“They informed them they had two specific and active leads that still needed to be chased and that although the investigation was taking longer than they initially thought officers said they were confident and hopeful they could get a result,” the source added.

The police have refused to reveal any clues they have about the case, fearing the suspects could take advantage of this information.

But the fact that they have been granted extra funds means that there has been progress in the search for the kidnappers, and the parents are clinging to this possibility with the hope of reuniting with their daughter.

Madeleine would be 15 years old nowadays, and her parents haven’t lost faith about her being still alive after been missing for all this time.

“[The McCann’s] are greatly encouraged that the Met Police still believe there is work left to be done in the search for their daughter and they remain incredibly grateful to the Home Office for providing an extra budget for the investigation.”

- McCann's spokesperson Clarence Mitchell, Daily Mail, November 18, 2018.

This is definitely good news for the McCann’s, but not everybody agrees on all the effort, money and number of officials focusing in the more than a decade old case, as they consider it a waste of resources.

Some other families with children reported missing are complaining about what they believe to be preferential treatment, claiming that other similar and more recent cases are “simply being forgotten.”

“The McCann’s have consistently used emotional blackmail to ensure the government continues to fund a hopeless investigation at the expense of others,” broadcaster Janet Street-Porter has said.

Madeleine McCann was three years old when she vanished from a holiday home in Algarve, Portugal back on May 3, 2007. She had been left sleeping with her brothers while the parents went out to have dinner.

The investigation has determined that she probably was not taken from the residence and that she must have left the apartment to look for her parents before being abducted.

Former policemen David Edgar, who once worked for the McCann’s as a private investigator believes that Madeleine could still be alive, although by now she probably doesn’t even know who she is.

As hard to believe as it might sound, there have been cases when parents reunite with their missing children after decades, such as the Chinese couple who lost their daughter, also at three, in 1994, and found her when she was a 24-year-old woman in 2015.