Driver saw 'struggle' with children

Jessica and Holly have been missing for a week

A witness saw a driver struggling with two children on the evening Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman went missing, police have revealed.

A taxi driver told officers he saw a man in a metallic dark green saloon car "thrashing his arms about" while driving erratically towards Newmarket on the A142 near Soham.

The information could prove to be the first major breakthrough in the massive hunt for the two 10-year-olds, who disappeared eight days ago from Soham in Cambridgeshire.

The car was seen "swerving all over" the road at about 1900 BST on 4 August, with what appeared to the witness to be one child in the front and another in the back seat.

	:	Holly and Jessica
Maps showing focus of the investigation

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Hebb said: "As a matter of urgency we need to trace this vehicle and driver and establish what relevance, if any, it has to the investigation."

The taxi driver followed the car - believed to be a Vauxhall Vectra or a Peugeot 405 - for about six or seven minutes. He saw it swerving at speeds of between 30-50mph.

Jessica was wearing trousers similar to these

Its driver is described as between 38 and 45-years-old, a white male of Mediterranean appearance or with a tanned complexion and with black wiry unkempt hair no longer than collar length. He wore dark clothing.

There have been two or three further reports of a green car in the centre of Soham on Sunday evening. Police will now re-examine CCTV footage in the town, as well as speed cameras on the A142, to check the sightings.

DCI Hebb was forced to defend the investigation after it emerged the taxi driver was interviewed on Sunday, but had first contacted Essex Police - in the county where he was holidaying - four days earlier, on Wednesday 7 August.

"The sheer size of the inquiry, the number of calls that we have, means there are many priorities," he said.

The information was evaluated by the investigation team on 9 August and eight officers were given the job of going to see him on 10 August, a spokesman added.

In pictures: 'Struggling' driver's route
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News of the breakthrough was announced hours before the girls' families broadcast an emotional appeal for the presumed abductor to give them back.

Jessica's mother Sharon Chapman told ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald programme "Just give them back, it's never too late."

Girls' descriptions

Both wearing Manchester United shirts

Both white, 4ft 6in, tall and slim

Jessica - tanned with brown hair

Holly - fair with blonde hair

Holly - polyester Tammy Girl trousers

Holly - silver neck chain with inscription Love

Holly - pendant necklace on black cord and diamond-effect stud earrings

Jessica - diamond-shaped pendant on black cord

Jessica - hair braid

Her husband Leslie, 51, said: "You can get angry but all you want is comfort that they're still alive and that we can resolve it and get them back - by any means."

The police also made a direct TV appeal to the 'kidnapper', with the officer leading the hunt, Superintendent David Beck, telling them to "examine your conscience" and leave the girls "somewhere safe where they can be found".

He adds: "Stand tall and look at yourself in the mirror.

"Look deep into the core of your soul and you will know what you have done is wrong."

At an earlier news conference DCI Hebb held up replicas of items belonging to the girls - including Jessica's Nokia 5110 phone with a blue cover, necklaces and Holly's trousers - and urged anyone who finds similar items to notify the police.

Click here to see girls' possessions

But he said they should not be touched as DNA tests may need to be carried out.

Police believe the 10-year-olds were snatched and are still alive but being kept against their will.

More than 100 officers - out of 300 working on the case - are searching woods and fenland within five miles of the girls' home town of Soham in Cambridgeshire.

A total of 16 police forces are now helping in the inquiry along with Ministry of Defence police, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.

Officers are also analysing statements given by drivers stopped in the town on Sunday.

A further 750 calls were triggered by a reconstruction of the girls' last known movements.

Anyone with information should call police on 01480 422982.

Replicas of girls' possessions police are trying to trace

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