Villagers join search for missing 10-year-old girls

Fears for the safety of two 10-year-old girls were growing last night. They disappeared while going for a walk in a small Cambridgeshire town more than 24 hours earlier and police say they are "extremely concerned".

Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells were last seen heading towards a sweet shop early on Sunday evening. The schoolfriends set off from Holly's home at about 6.30pm, having spent the day playing together at a family barbecue. Jessica took a mobile phone with her but neither child has used it since their disappearance.

Hundreds of volunteers and police officers spent yesterday searching for the girls in Soham, 15 miles north-east of Cambridge, and the surrounding countryside. The parents of the missing girls joined the public last night in a new search for the children. A crowd of about 500 local people gathered to help police search the area around the children's homes and police said they would continue the search through the night.

The girls' parents did not realise they were missing until about 8.30pm when they went to Holly's bedroom and found they had gone.

Sharon Chapman, 43, a learning support assistant; her husband, Leslie, 51; Nicola Wells, 35, a secretary; and her husband, Kevin, 38, a contract cleaner, appeared at a press conference to appeal for help in finding their daughters.

Mr Wells said: "They were in and out playing. We were having a family barbecue. And when we went to check on them they weren't there."

He said the girls might have left the house to buy some sweets. "That's something they would do normally. The sweet shop is in the direction of where they were heading," he added. "They have been friends for a long time. It is out of character for them to do this."

Mr Chapman, when asked if he had a message for his daughter Jessica, said: "Come home, all is forgiven." He added: "She is bright, intelligent and knows how to use the phone. It is just a complete mystery as to why she has not phoned. It is so out of character."

Engineers have managed to trace Jessica's mobile phone to an area of Cambridgeshire, but it does not give an accurate location. Although at about 1.30am yesterday the mobile had run out of credit and had been turned off, or the battery had run out, the police have topped up the phone remotely in the hope that the girls will use it.

Both girls had access to the internet via computers and detectives are checking to see whether they might have been going to meet someone they made contact with through a chatroom. Checks were also being made on known child offenders in the Cambridgeshire area.

Both girls, who are pupils at St Andrews Primary School in Soham, are about 4ft 6in. They were wearing replica Manchester United shirts with the word Beckham and the number seven on the back.

Jessica has two sisters, Rebecca, 16, and Alison, 14. She enjoys swimming and plays for an under-11 football team. Her family describe her as a "tomboy with an inquisitive nature".

Holly is a majorette, plays the cornet and also enjoys singing and dancing. Her family describe her as "bubbly and outgoing". She has a brother, Oliver, 12.

Inspector Simon Causer, who is leading the search, said: "Their disappearance is incredibly out of character. We are extremely concerned."