Madeleine McCann: Stop using Met police for hunt when officers needed in UK says Union boss

Officers investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann would be better deployed in the fight against terrorism and solving murders closer to home, a chief police officer has warned.

Thirty one detectives are continuing the hunt for Madeleine who went missing aged three from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007.

Operation Grange, estimated to cost £7.3m ($11m), was set up to review the original Portuguese police investigation at the personal request of Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, to David Cameron.

But last night (17 March), police union bosses called for resources to be deployed closer to home to help combat terrorism and the spike in murders in the capital in wake of the £600m cuts to policing.

Metropolitan Police Federation chairman John Tully told the Daily Star: "It is time to re-focus on what we need to do to keep London safe.

"We no longer have the resources to conduct specialist inquiries all over the world, which have nothing to do with London.

"The Met has long been seen as the last resort for investigations others have struggled with elsewhere.

"But we have made £600m of cuts. We have closed 63 police stations across London. Another £800m of cutbacks are anticipated over the next four years.

"It is surprising to see an inquiry like the McCann investigation ring-fenced. I have heard a few rumblings of discontent about it from lots of sources.

"When the force is facing a spike in murder investigations it is not surprising there is resentment of significant resources diverted to a case that has no apparent connection with London."

The Met Office confirmed the 31 detectives are not concentrating their efforts on any other inquiries.