Madeleine McCann Investigation Bill is £10m Reveals Scotland Yard

Efforts to find Madeleine McCann are set to cost £10m, which is double the previous estimate. The bill has been raked up by Scotland Yard and will be paid by the Home Office.

A Freedom of Information request revealed the cost of continuing efforts to find Madeleine, who vanished at the age of three during a family holiday in the Algarve in 2007.

The £10m figure will be reached if this year's investigation costs roughly the same as previously years. Previous annual costs were £1.9m in 2011/2012, £2.8m the following year and £2.6m in 2013/2014, reported the Mirror.

A government spokesman said it was "right" to continuing searching for Madeleine.

"The government believes it is right that it does all it can to support the search for Madeleine McCann," he said.

"The Home Office will continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police to review and control the costs appropriately and to ensure that the investigation has the resources it requires."

Metropolitan Police officers travelled to Praia da Luz, where Madeleine vanished, earlier this year. Specialist sniffer dogs were used to comb an area of scrubland close to the Oceania hotel resort but the activity drew a blank.