Police widen search for Amanda

Amanda, left, has been missing for 12 days

Police have widened their search for missing teenager Amanda Dowler to include the whole of the Walton-on-Thames area.

Until now the search for the 13-year-old has concentrated on a three-square-mile area around the route from the town's railway station to her home.

Officers are also examining her computer to see if she was using internet chat rooms or might have met a man via the web.

Amanda, also known as Milly, was last seen at the Walton-on-Thames train station in Surrey on Thursday 21 March.

Amanda's parents have made several appeals

Despite extensive police searches and appeals by her family, no trace of the schoolgirl has yet been found.

Surrey Police say there was no evidence of a struggle and it is more likely Amanda ran away with someone than she had been abducted.

Officers examined aerial photographs of the area over the Easter weekend, and made the decision to extend the search for clues.

A spokeswoman for Surrey Police said: "Today the next stage is to widen the search area to Walton-on-Thames and the surrounding area.

"We're continuing to look for anything that will help us to move the investigation forward.

'Lovelier sister'

"We're also continuing house-to-house inquiries in the area Milly went missing from."

Police are also examining Amanda's computer for clues.

Twenty extra officers were put on the case at the weekend to cope with the public response generated by recent appeals for information.

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Superintendent Alan Sharp of Surrey Police said: "We have over 100 officers on this inquiry and we are very pleased with the results of appeals we gave out recently."

During the investigation police have examined CCTV footage from across the area and carried out house-to-house inquiries.

They have scoured sites including culverts, allotments, ponds, gardens and abandoned buildings but found no trace of the schoolgirl.

Milly was carrying a beige rucksack, a white plastic purse with a heart in the top right hand corner, a pencil case and a Nokia 3210 silver mobile phone with a blue back with the name "Milly" on it.

Police have also carried out a thorough search of the Dowlers' home with the consent of Amanda's parents Sally and Bob.

Their other daughter, 16-year-old sister Gemma, made an appeal on Sunday to anyone who may have abducted her sister.

Gemma wrote: "If someone has taken Milly, please return her safely to us as I am missing her very much and I couldn't wish for a lovelier sister."