Up to 81 former officers were on the Met payroll as part of the failed £12.1million hunt for the missing child

Former police officers employed by G4S have been used by Scotland Yard in the hunt for Madeleine McCann.

Up to 81 former officers have been on the Met Police payroll to search for the missing girl over a five-year period.

Revelations of the global company’s input into the failed £12.1 million hunt for Maddie only emerged in documents obtained from the London force under freedom of information laws.

It is set to cause embarrassment to the Government who are now investigating the private firm for allegedly overcharging them.

Two weeks ago Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry publically thanked Operation Grange, the police inquiry set up into their daughter’s disappearance on PM David Cameron ’s orders, in May 2011.

But the couple from Rothley, Leics, couldn’t resist a dig at cops for failing to do “as much” quickly enough in an online festive message.

It was not clear if the McCanns were aware G4S , whose reputation has been scarred after a string of blunders, had been brought on board.

The firm’s relationship with the Government has been frayed following a series of scandals including bungling the London 2012 Olympic contract and charging taxpayers for monitoring dead criminals.

The hunt for Maddie, who vanished during a family holiday to Portugal’s Praia da Luz, in May 2007 just days before her fourth birthday, is now being scaled down.

In 2011 G4S provided the most staff, up to 33, to help solve the Maddie riddle , at a cost to British taxpayers of up to £91,929, including an agency fee of £8,489.

The following year up to 16 officers were on Op Grange books, plus one intelligence assessor at a fee of up to £59,380. In 2013 up to 13 G4S staff were assigned to find Maddie at a rate of up to £54,134. In the summer of that year Scotland Yard travelled to Portugal to dig up ground in and around Luz where they suspected Maddie’s body could be buried. 

In 2014 G4S provided up to 10 ex cops, a researcher and two digital media assessors to team up with the Maddie squad at a price spiralling towards £57, 413.

On top of G4S Operation Grange used another private company Servoca to help the hunt.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We can confirm we have used agencies to provide extra support on specific high profile cases, including Operation Grange, the search for Madeleine McCann. G4S has provided ex police officers during a period from 2010 to 2014. It is not believed that we are still using them.”

G4S has also been involved in Operation Yewtree, the Met Police’s child sex abuse inquiry which has seen the high-profile prosecution of celebrities collapse and Operation Withern, the investigation into the 2011 London riots.

At the weekend MPs questioned the decision by police, who have suffered 20 per cent budget cuts, to use staff from G4S.

The company is being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office for claims it overcharged the Ministry of Justice for the electronic tagging of criminals who were dead or back in jail. G4S also failed to provide enough trained staff for the London Olympics, causing troops to be brought in.

Private firms including G4S and Servoca have been paid nearly £170million of taxpayers’ money between January 2010 and December 2014 for helping police forces across the country. 

The newly-released statistics come from 28 of 45 forces who confirmed hiring staff from both companies.

Keith Vaz, Labour MP for Leicester East, and chairman of the home affairs select committee said: “Given the huge pressure on police budgets, it is puzzling that such a large amount of public money is being given to private-sector organisations.”

Scotland Yard has vowed to continue the search for Maddie for another three months despite recently scaling back on officers.

But former GP Kate and heart doctor Gerry, both 47, are preparing for the inquiry to be shelved later this year after, so far, failing to unearth any new clues. They believe their daughter, who would now be aged 12, could still be alive and will use money from the £750,000 set aside in official Find Maddie Fund to employ a new team of private eyes. 

Until the end of June last year it emerged controversial Op Grange has cost £10.1 million with a further £2 million from the Government’s “Special Grants” budgeted until early April.

A Scotland Yard spokesperson said: “The investigation is still ongoing although the number of officers has been significantly reduced.” 

The task force has yet to make a single arrest. In October they drastically cut the number detectives from 29 to just four. 

Kate and Gerry’s spokesperson Clarence Mitchell said: “How Scotland Yard run Operation Grange, and the manning of it, is entirely a matter for them. They will employ agency staff as and when they see fit. Kate and Gerry will not be commenting.”