'Good response' to Amanda footage

CCTV shows Amanda walking through Weybridge station

Police hunting for missing schoolgirl Amanda Dowler say they have had a good response from the public after releasing CCTV pictures featuring the 13-year-old on the day she went missing.

Amanda, also known as Milly to her family and friends, has been missing for 17 days, and police released CCTV footage of her on Sunday in their search for clues.

It shows her making her way home from Heathside School in Weybridge on 21 March, and on the platform at Weybridge Railway Station.

A Surrey Police spokesman said: "We have had a very good response and and the pictures have generated a significant number of calls.

The footage has been released in a bid to jog the memories of anyone who may have seen Milly

Surrey Police

"We are working through them very carefully, but at this stage they have not yet generated any significant new developments."

The police also revealed that more than 2,200 calls have been received from people offering information about Amanda since she vanished.

On Sunday afternoon specialist search officers scoured an area of dense woodland about a mile-and-a-half from her school.

The search teams concentrated on an area south of the A317, between Queens Road and Cranley Road, Walton-on-Thames.

School stairs

Police said the search was not linked to any new leads from the colour CCTV footage.

Amanda vanished while walking home from Walton-on-Thames Station less than an hour later.

The CCTV images released by police show Amanda leaving Heathside School at 1507 GMT, walking down a flight of stairs after leaving a science lesson.

At the time the footage was taken, Amanda was wearing her school uniform of dark blue blazer, grey skirt, white shirt, school tie and blue jumper.

Also visible in the pictures is the beige rucksack Amanda was carrying when she went missing.

After her last class, she left school as normal and then walked with female friends to Weybridge train station where she caught a train with them to Walton.

Blue jumper

After eating chips with her friends and then saying goodbye to them, she went missing as she walked the one mile to the family house in Walton Park.

Further CCTV footage taken at 1523 GMT on the same day at Weybridge train station again shows her in her school uniform, but this time not wearing her blue jumper.

Earlier this week two motorists reported to detectives seeing a girl closely resembling Amanda crying along the route she would have taken home shortly after 1600 GMT.

There has been no sign of Amanda for 17 days

A spokesman for Surrey Police, who have more than 100 officers working on the case at any one time, said: "The footage has been released in a bid to jog the memories of anyone who may have seen Milly on the day she disappeared.

"Anyone with information that could help Surrey Police with its investigation should contact 01372 471212."

The spokesman added that they were continuing to follow all lines of inquiry and were keeping an open mind as to the reasons for Amanda's disappearance.

Her disappearance is being treated as a "critical incident" and police are becoming increasingly concerned for her safety, the spokesman said.