Nationwide hunt for best friends

Pictures of the boys were featured on milk cartons

The disappearance of two young boys from their home on Boxing Day 1996 sparked a huge missing persons inquiry and repeated media appeals.

Patrick Warren, 11 at the time and his best friend David Spencer, then 13, never arrived at the Solihull home of Patrick's relatives.

West Midlands Police believe the pair were last seen begging for food at a local garage on 27 December.

In 2005, David's mother told BBC News that she feared the worst for her son.

Christine O'Toole, said if her son was alive, he would have been in touch by now.

If David is dead out there I want him home so I can bury him and get on with my life - at the moment I'm stuck in limbo Christine O'Toole

Family members were baffled as to why the boys should leave, discarding their Christmas presents.

Patrick had been given a bike which was his "pride and joy".

It was found by the side of an Shell garage in the Chelmsley Wood area of Solihull where police believe the pair were last seen.

The shop assistant gave them some biscuits and saw them head off towards Chelmsley Wood shopping centre.

The boys became the focus of a national missing person campaign when their pictures were put on milk cartons.

'Great friends'

Police searched Woodgate Valley, Birmingham, after receiving an anonymous letter in 2002, claiming the boys' bodies were buried there. They found nothing.

At the time, Mrs O' Toole said her life had been on hold since her son's disappearance.

"I still remember my last Christmas Day with David. I bought him a pool table and Paddy brought his new bike round in the morning to show him," she said.

"They spent all day playing on that bike and eating the Christmas leftovers. They were great friends.

"I'm frightened to go out, just in case he phones me or comes back and I'm not in to greet him.

"If David is dead out there I want him home so I can bury him and get on with my life - at the moment I'm stuck in limbo."