Holiday romance youngsters missing

The pair have been in regular contact since the holiday

The mother of a 12-year-old girl who is believed to have run away with a teenage boy she met on holiday has appealed for her to come home.

Natasha Phillips, 12, from the Isle of Wight, is thought to have run away with Ashley Lamprey, 15, from Ackworth, West Yorkshire.

Natasha, who met Ashley in Greece earlier this year, was last seen at her Newport home by her mother on Tuesday morning.

She left a note for her family saying she loved them all. Ashley also went missing on the same morning.

Natasha's mother, Michelle Clark, said: "Natasha, I just want to know that you are okay and you are with Ashley, and that you are both safe.

Parents have appealed for the pair to let them know they are safe

"I know you and Ashley want to be together, but you need to let the family know that you are both safe.

"We love you very much and we just want you to come home."

Ashley's mother Karen, 38, said the youngsters had had a "typical teenage holiday romance".

She said: "They became really close and spent virtually every day together."

The mother added that when Ashley returned home they "phoned each other virtually every day and wrote letters".

She first realised something was wrong when she went to Ashley's room on Tuesday morning before going to work and found he was not there.

Natasha is said to look older than 12-years-old

She said she did not go on the holiday where her son met Natasha and thought she was 15 until she had spoken to her parents

It is believed the couple had been planning to meet up for several weeks.

Acting Inspector Paul Savill, from Hampshire police, said: "We know that they have been in regular contact with each other and we think they made travel plans together to go to Northampton.

"Neither of them has relatives or friends in the area that we aware of and it was possibly just a meeting point before they travelled elsewhere.

"We are concerned as they only have a limited amount of money between them and we are worried how they will look after themselves once this runs out."