The BBC's crime correspondent Stephen Cape reports

Mrs Justice Hogg spoke of her anxiety over missing Jade and Hannah Bennett and said they may now be in Ireland.

"I am now very worried for the safety and well-being of these children," she said.

Jade Bennett: She could be in Ireland

The judge said there had been several reported sightings of the children - three of which were in Ireland - since their disappearance.

Foster parents Jeffrey and Jennifer Bramley, from Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, vanished with Jade, five, and Hannah, three, after local social workers warned the couple that they might not be able to adopt them as they wished.

The couple, who have no children of their own, had been looking after the girls since March.

After the Bramleys unsuccessfully challenged the decision through the courts, they disappeared with the children, taking their passports and their blue Honda Concerto.

Mrs Justice Hogg: "Concern"

Soon after, the girls' natural mother, Jacqueline Bennett, made a plea for the couple to return her daughters.

She said: "I know they've done what they have done because they love Jade and Hannah."

Mrs Justice Hogg also said the media had assisted greatly in bringing the children's plight to the public's attention.

She added: "I am concerned that Jade and Hannah should now be found as quickly as possible.

"They have been missing for nearly three months and the court has no means of knowing whether their health and educational needs are being met.

"Someone knows where they are, or someone has seen them. I beseech that person to come forward with whatever information he or she has so that we can find these two little girls."

The supermarket chain Iceland has agreed to print pictures of the girls on milk cartons to help jog people's memories.