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Police hunting for Madeleine McCann have been given six months to find her offering fresh hope to her parents as they face the ninth anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance.

Home Secretary Theresa May has granted Scotland Yard extra funds of nearly £95,000 to carry on the search amid Kate and Gerry’s fears that the investigation would be shelved this month.

Maddie’s gran Susan Healy said the Met Police’s renewed commitment would give the family a boost. She said: “This is good news and they must think it is worth continuing.”

Susan from Liverpool - Kate’s mum - added: “We are very grateful for that.”

Read more:Kate McCann believes Maddie is still in the Algarve

Former GP Kate recently told of her hope that Maddie, who would now be aged 12 nearly 13, could still be alive and vowed: “We will never give up.”

(Image: PA)

Kate, 48, and heart doctor husband Gerry, 47, had understood the inquiry codenamed Operation Grange would be wound up this week to coincide with the end of the financial year.

But new funds totalling £94,592 have been allocated until early October - a fraction on previous years. When the money runs out the Yard will then be poised to ditch the five-year £12 million inquiry which has yet to unearth any new clues.

(Image: PA)

The number of officers working on the case, cut from 30 at its peak to just four last autumn, will remain the same.

A Scotland Yard spokesperson said yesterday: “The inquiry has not reached a conclusion. There are still focused lines of investigation to be pursued.

There are no immediate plans to reduce office numbers further at this time.”

Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Wall leads the small team and has access to other detectives within the Homicide and Major Command if required.

A Home Office spokesperson added: “Following a request from the Metropolitan Police Service, we have agreed to provide nearly £95,000 of further funding for Operation Grange.

(Image: Getty)

“The funding reflects the reduced scale of the investigation, which was announced by the force last year.” The spokesperson said the it covered the first half of the 2016-17 financial year.

Three-year-old Maddie disappeared from holiday apartment in Portugal’s Praia da Luz in May 2007 while her parents were dining nearby with pals.

When Operation Grange is finally closed and if Maddie is still missing Kate and Gerry from Rothley, Leics, will pay for their own team of private eyes to continue looking.

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Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said yesterday: “Should the need arise for a private investigation to be resumed, they have made sure they have enough money left in the Madeleine Fund.”

He said Kate and Gerry would have been made aware the inquiry is continuing but refused to discuss it because “it is a police matter.”