Police follow up Genette calls

Genette Tate disappeared in 1978

Police in Devon are following up 20 calls received after the 25th anniversary of a schoolgirl's disappearance from a country lane.

Genette Tate was a 13-year-old newspaper delivery girl when she went missing in Within Lane, in sight of her home village of Aylesbeare, east Devon.

It is thought she vanished from the lane shortly after 1530 BST on Saturday, 19 August, 1978.

Devon and Cornwall Police said all the calls they had received would be followed up.

Fresh hope

On Tuesday, her divorced parents, John Tate, 61, and Sheila Cook, 58, paid visits to the spot where her bicycle and the newspapers she was delivering were discovered.

Sheila Cook, and her husband, Bob, walked hand-in-hand to the spot in the lane where Genette's bike was found by friends.

She said she had made the trip to Devon to support her former husband, Genette's father, John Tate, who had travelled from his home in Greece to mark the anniversary.

John Tate travelled from Greece to mark the anniversary

Mr Tate said he had been given fresh hope after Genette's DNA was found last year on one of her jumpers kept by Sheila.

He said the discovery of the DNA was an "enormous breakthrough".

The mystery of Genette's disappearance is Britain's longest-running missing persons inquiry, with a team of 20 police still trying to solve the riddle.

One of the team still working on the inquiry, Sergeant Bill MacDonald, said that, following publicity about the anniversary, they received 20 calls from a variety of sources providing information about Genette's disappearance.

Sergeant MacDonald said there were no significant leads, but all calls would be followed up.