A further £150,000 has been granted for detectives hunting for missing Madeleine McCann.

The Home Office confirmed on Tuesday that it has allocated the money to allow Scotland Yard to continue its investigation until March.

Madeleine was three when she was last seen while on holiday with her parents in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.

Scotland Yard launched its own investigation, Operation Grange, into her disappearance in 2013, after a Portuguese inquiry failed to make any headway.

Force bosses have been applying for funding from the Home Office every six months to continue the inquiry, that has cost about £11.75 million so far.

Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have always pledged never to give up the search for their daughter.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We have confirmed that Special Grant funding of £150,000 will be provided to the Metropolitan Police Service for the six-month period to 31 March 2019.”