Extra $137,000 for 'last throw of the dice' to find Madeleine McCann

The British Home Office has granted detectives an extra $137,000 to investigate what is described as a crucial lead in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Funding was due to run out within weeks but the extra money was granted to allow detectives to interview a specific person of interest.

"There is just one person who detectives want to speak to who was near to the area where Madeleine disappeared almost 10 years ago," an insider told the Sunday Express.

"An international search has been underway to find them."

The Home Office confirmed on Saturday that the Metropolitan Police had been awarded the additional funding to allow Operation Grange to continue.

"Following an application from the Metropolitan Police for special grant funding the Home Office has confirmed £85,000 ($137,000) in operational costs for Operation Grange for the period April 1 until September 2017," a Home Office spokesperson told the Express.

Senior officers involved in the investigation admit this is the "last throw of the dice" in their hunt.

Three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from a ground-floor apartment at Portugal's Algarve resort in Praia da Luz, a resort town often nicknamed "little Britain" due to the high concentration of English tourists who holiday there.

Additional funding from the Home Office means the search will continue beyond the 10th anniversary of McCann's disappearance on May 3, 2007.