British police were confident yesterday that two 10-year-old schoolgirls missing since the weekend had been spotted walking on a main road almost 12 hours after they vanished.
A woman contacted officers to say she had seen best friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman walking on the A10 from Ely towards Cambridge early on Monday morning.
The girls, who were both wearing red Manchester United shirts, were last seen near Holly's home in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on Sunday evening.
Det Supt David Hankins said the woman had spotted two girls exactly matching Jessica and Holly's description. when she drew the curtains of her home in Little Thetford, about five miles from Soham.
"We are particularly reassured by this piece of information as both the girls appeared to eb happy," he told a news conference, He said there had been no further sightings.
A hunt involving a police helicopter, dog teams and hundreds of locals has been carried out around Soham. - (Reuters)