On Tuesday, officers involved in the hunt for Charlotte Jones erected a forensic examination tent outside the house where she lives with her mother.

Chief Inspector Tim Jacobs: "She could resemble a bundle of rags - please investigate everything"

It was put up just yards from the front door of the house in the Dallam area of Warrington, Cheshire.

The road was sealed off in mid-morning, as officers resumed house-to-house inquiries.

Police sealed up an Astra and towed it away for examination

Shortly after noon a police recovery vehicle arrived to remove a black Astra car.

Just over an hour later, officers wearing white paper clothing entered the house.

Charlotte was last seen at 1715GMT on Monday in the front garden near where police are now searching.

At a news conference on Tuesday evening, Det Supt Hamilton said there had been no confirmed sightings of the youngster.

He said he hoped someone was sheltering Charlotte and was unaware of the concerns for her safety.

He added: "Our enquiries so far show that it was a caring and loving home and Charlotte received the best of care from that home."

Detectives say they were contacted earlier in the day by the youngster's father, a lorry driver who lives outside the area.

He had been ruled out of the inquiry, police added.

A forensic tent was put up near to the garden where Charlotte was last seen

Detectives said they had now spoken to the social worker who visited the house on Monday and he told them that Charlotte was not at the gate of the family home to wave goodbye when he left shortly before 1700.

Sixty officers were still working on the case with sniffer dogs continuing to scour the area overnight.

Mr Hamilton said extra resources would be brought in on Wednesday if the child had not been found.

Officers from Cheshire, North Wales and Merseyside were working on the theory that Charlotte might simply have wandered off.

But as time goes by, it is thought increasingly unlikely that that was the case.

Charlotte's distraught mother Michelle Jones said her daughter would not go off alone with strangers.

"Charlotte is a happy little girl who is at ease with people she knows," she said.

Police, aided by volunteers from the local community - 25 of whom were given time off from a local factory to take part in the search - scoured the area.

Divers continued to work as darkness fell

Divers searched Dallam Brook canal, which runs close to the back of the child's house, while dog teams were drafted in from North Wales and Greater Manchester.

And the Merseyside Police helicopter continues to comb the area with infra-red search lights and thermal imaging equipment.

Charlotte was last seen wearing a purple bubble jacket, Winnie the Pooh jumper and white leggings with a Dalmatian pattern on them.

She is 3ft to 4ft tall and has hip-length blond hair which is tied back in a pony tail.

A police spokeswoman said: "We would appeal for people in the local area to search garden sheds, coal bunkers, wheelie bins, wendy houses, kennels or anything outdoors that a little child could use to sleep in."