As Kate and Gerry face an agonising wait over the future of the investigation, the Daily Mirror can reveal there is £728,508 which could be used to find private investigators

The parents of Madeleine McCann have nearly £750,000 to help find their daughter - giving them a lifeline if the police hunt is axed next month.

As Kate and Gerry face an agonising wait over the future of the investigation, the Daily Mirror can reveal there is £728,508 which could be used to find private investigators.

The cash in the Find Maddie Fund - made up mainly of public donations and profits from Kate’s bestseller book - has grown over the past financial year, according to the latest accounts.

A profit of £793,516 is showing in the fund until the end of March last year - £582,090 in fixed assets and £211,426 in investments.



But from this total, a chunk - £51,718 - has been set aside to be paid to the McCann’s Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte over a failed libel battle against an ex top cop.

A further £13,290 is ear marked for trade creditors, tax and accrued expenses

Detectives have not yet requested further funds from the Home Office to continue their work in April. 

They have been struggling to unearth any new clues despite saying last summer they had “a final line of inquiry” to pursue.

If Op Grange, launched in May 2011, is shelved the McCanns have vowed to continue the search themselves.

Family spokesperson Clarence Mitchell said: “The Met Police will put in a further request for funds if they feel work still needs to be done.

“Money in the Madeleine Fund gives Kate and Gerry the option to pick up their own inquiries again, if they choose, with private investigators.”

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

Kate and Gerry have never given up hope that their daughter could still be found alive. She would now be aged 14, nearly 15.

Madeleine’s Fund “Leaving No Stone Unturned”, which is not a charity, was set up shortly after the youngster vanished with the sole purpose of “securing the safe return to her family” of Maddie and bringing her abductors to justice.