THE British police hunt for Madeleine McCann is ­costing almost £6,000 a day, we can reveal.

Around £4,400 goes on ­detectives’ wages while transport, “supplies” and other police staff bump the figure up to just over £5,800.

Figures obtained by the Daily Star Sunday show the probe – launched last May – is likely to have cost around £2.15million. 

The Home Office, which is footing the bill, has pledged no expense will be spared in trying to help the ­Portuguese authorities solve the case. 

It is now more than five years since Madeleine – then aged three – vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.  

Her parents Kate and ­Gerry McCann, from ­Rothley, Leics, believe she is still alive and police also think there is a chance she can be found.

An invoice sent to the Home Office by the Met ­police team reviewing the case shows the wage bill for “26.5” detectives, is ­estimated at £1,447,263 up to April 5.

A further £388,906 is ­estimated for the ten police staff helping the hunt.  

With the Met putting no time limit on trying to solve the case the final bill could run into tens of millions of pounds. 

And questions have been raised about why officers are working on a case led by Portuguese authorities at the expense of home-based investigations