Britain to fund cost of new investigation into McCann disappearance

LONDON, June 15 (UPI) -- The British government says it has agreed to fund the full cost of a police investigation into the disappearance of a young girl missing for six years.

Scotland Yard has spent $7.9 million and two years reviewing the case of Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in Portugal in 2007 nine days shy of her fourth birthday.

Home Secretary Theresa May has indicated the government was willing to fund the cost of a full-blown investigation after Metropolitan Police said they had identified 20 possible suspects and uncovered dozens of new leads, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

Portuguese police who conducted the initial investigation ended it in 2008 after falsely accusing her parents of being involved in the child's disappearance. The Home Office funded a 2011 review of the case by Scotland Yard.

Last year, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said his team had developed 195 possible leads.

The McCanns said earlier this month they were encouraged by the discovery of three young women in Ohio who had been missing for up to 10 years.