Madeline McCann disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on the evening of May 3, 2007 and an investigator who previously worked on the case claims a breakthrough could be imminent. British and Portuguese police have been searching for the missing child for 12 years, at an estimated cost of £11.75 million to UK taxpayers. But top child protection officer, Jim Gamble, who investigated the disappearance of Maddie, has told The Daily Star police are currently chasing “meaningful leads” in one of the world’s most high-profile missing-person case.

Last month police chiefs asked the Home Office for an additional £300,000, something Mr Gamble sites as evidence investigators are edging closer to the truth.

He said: “What I know for a fact is this: the Metropolitan Police would not be asking for one penny more towards this investigation unless they had meaningful leads.

“I cannot see how this Government, during the age of austerity – or the police themselves – would apply for money if there wasn’t something potentially positive that might come from it.

“You come to a point where you don’t ask for more money if there’s nothing more to do.

“There have to still be lines of inquiry to justify further investment. Nobody gives money away these days, they have to justify it.

“I’ve worked in that environment, you have to justify how much money you want, what you are going to use it for, and what impact it is likely to have.”

Mr Gamble, one of the UK’s most high profile experts on child protection, believes that Maddie was abducted – something her parents Kate and Gerry McCann have consistently claimed.

The ex-detective added: “Either someone took her, or in fact she wandered out that night and came to harm and that her body has never been discovered.”

Mr Gamble also believes the mystery into Maddie’s disappearance will be solved, as he is confident advances in DNA analysis will identify the potential abductor.

But those hopes were all but shattered yesterday after DNA technology failed to identify a potential kidnapper.

More than 100 DNA samples were recovered from the Portugal flat but their quality was deemed too poor to produce reliable results.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “We are not prepared to give a running commentary on this investigation.”

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