CRIME minister Angela Browning has defended the cost of the police hunt for Madeleine McCann.

She says PM David Cameron backed a new Met probe ?based on the sincere hope that Madeleine is still alive.?

But the minister refuses to reveal the exact cost of the investigation.

Peers pressed her for an estimate of public money being spent and demanded regular updates to Parliament on the investigation.

Baroness Browning said: ?It would be inappropriate to give a running ?commentary on progress.?

The cash will not come from the existing London policing budget and Home Secretary Theresa May will pay the extra.

?Funding will be subject to regular review,? she told the Lords.

The PM stepped in after an emotional appeal by Madeleine's parents, Kate, 43, and Gerry, 42.

Maddie, of Rothley, Leics ? who was abducted on a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007 ? would now be eight years old.