Piers Morgan sparked huge debate – again – yesterday as he discussed more funding being given to the search effort for missing Madeleine McCann.
The host pondered whether so much should be spent on the ongoing case, following the news that police are getting another £85,000 to prop up the probe.
Funding for the case has been extended for another six months after a new lead was revealed – an employee from the Portuguese resort where the the three-year-old vanished in 2007 is being sought for questioning.
He argued the investigation should receive this additional money.
And the journalist has been praised by the McCann family for his public backing.
McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “What Piers said in defence of Kate and Gerry and the police search for their daughter is entirely right and his comments speak for themselves, and are very sensible.”
However, some viewers were up in arms when they discovered that £11.1million had been spent on the hunt for her over the past 10 years.
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Joining in the debate was retired Met police officer Sue Hill, Dr Graham Hill, who worked on the investigation, and Karen Danczuk.
Sue said that she thought the huge bill was a waste of taxpayers’ money and spoke on behalf of the victims and families other unsolved murder cases from more recent years that are crying out for a budget to solve the cases.
Sue said: “Knowing how many undetected murders there are here in London… sometimes you have to put sentiment to one side and say enough is enough.”
Viewers were quick to express their disdain on Twitter.
“Glad that @gmb are covering the #MadeleineMccann funding. This case is being over-resourced, yet again. Taxpayers aren’t happy,” one outraged viewer tweeted.
Another added: “11.1m on the search for #MadeleineMccann is ridiculous…”
In spite of previous red herrings, there is new hope of finding out the truth from speaking to this former employee of the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz.
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The unnamed man had apparently been previously interviewed by authorities, but now they have reason to believe he may hold more key info.
“British officers are very keen to question him and are convinced he knows more than he was previously saying,” a source told the Mirror.
“They are not suggesting he stole Maddie but he may know people who could have been involved.”