Man arrested by police in hunt for missing schoolgirl Amanda

A 36-year-old man was arrested yesterday in connection with the disappearance of the schoolgirl Amanda Dowler, who went missing eight weeks ago. The suspect was detained at 11am in Chertsey, about three miles from the 13-year-old's home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.

Police were continuing to question him last night, although well-placed sources suggested that this is not considered at this stage to be a significant breakthrough.

The man, who has no connection to the Dowlers, is thought to live in Weybridge – about two miles from the family's home. He was arrested at a Victorian semi-detached house in Abbey Road, Chertsey. Last night it was being guarded by two uniformed police officers while forensic experts carried out a search.

It is thought to be the first arrest directly connected to the disappearance of Amanda, who is known as Milly. A woman was recently arrested for allegedly harassing the girl's parents.

The teenager disappeared on her way home from school on Thursday 21 March. Milly had left Heathside School in Weybridge and caught a train to Walton-on-Thames, where she visited a cafe with a friend. She called her father on her friend's mobile phone at 3.47pm and set off towards her house 18 minutes later, but has not been since despite a massive police search and nationwide publicity.

The girl's parents, Robert and Sally, were told of the arrest by family liaison officers yesterday and are thought to be at home with their other daughter, Gemma.

Chris Dawson, a family friend, said yesterday that anything that moved forward the inquiry into Milly's disappearance was good news.

But he added: "Until we know more we can't say anything. The Dowlers will have to keep level-headed."

Police have struggled to make a breakthrough in the case and detectives have examined a number of theories.

It was feared she had been snatched off the street but the failure to find a single witness to her abduction led police to say that it now appeared more likely that she had run off with someone, possibly having met them through internet chat-rooms that Milly is known to have used from her computer at home. Police have examined the computer's contents.

Speaking before yesterday's arrest, Superintendent Alan Sharp, the officer leading the investigation, said: "We are currently re-interviewing all her friends, making personal visits and collating all the information received so far to build up a fuller picture of Milly.

"Surrey Police is following all lines of inquiries in this critical incident, but we still need people to offer information, however trivial or irrelevant they think it is."

Officers assigned to the case have taken more than 1,000 statements and spoken to 100 of Milly's friends and family members.

Specialist search teams have completed 165 searches of local sites and Surrey Police have worked together with a specialist water company, which uses state-of-the-art technology to search local water courses.

The incident room had received more than 3,200 calls from all over the country and abroad, but none have led to any confirmed sighting.

Her parents have twice suffered the anguish of fearing her body had been found, once when a corpse was found on the railway track at nearby Hersham station, three days after Milly's disappearance, and recently when a woman's body was found in the River Thames near to their home.