'Still substantial amount of work to be done' in McCann search

Police investigating the disappearance of Madeline McCann say there is 'still a substantial amount of work to be completed in the coming weeks and months' as they continue their search.

The investigation, dubbed Operation Grange, has so far failed to find any new evidence relating to the youngster despite scouring a 'horse shaped' shaped piece of waste ground west of Praia da Luz for eight days.

They said they were acting on 'just one hypothesis that she was killed and buried locally.'

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "This was the first phase of the investigation which has been agreed with the Portuguese. More activity has been agreed and we expect that to commence shortly.

"There is still a substantial amount of work yet to be completed in the coming weeks and months, which again should be viewed as no more than normal operational activity in a case of this size and complexity. "

The deployment is the "largest ever undertaken by UK police overseas in a case of this type" with a total of 60,000 square metres of land searched, including all utilities, drainage channels and derelict buildings.