Plea to commuters over missing girl

POLICE are today asking commuters for help in the search for Essex schoolgirl Danielle Jones, exactly two weeks after her disappearance.

They are handing out leaflets and questioning motorists and train passengers at the rail station near her home in East Tilbury.

They are also talking to drivers on the road near where Danielle, 15, was last seen, and which is on the route of the bus which normally takes her to school in Stanford le Hope.

Danielle was last seen at 8am on her way to catch the bus on Monday 18 June.

Minutes later a girl fitting her description was seen getting into a dark blue Transit-type van in a nearby street, apparently "without hesitation".

An Essex police spokeswoman said: "We want to know where the blue van went."

Meanwhile specialist teams from the police, fire and rescue services, and civilian search organisations, continue to sweep areas that have included marshland and a landfill site. There has been no trace of Danielle since she went missing, despite appeals by her parents, Tony, 40, and Linda, 41, and by pop group Steps.

A text message was received from her phone hours after she went missing but police have refused to reveal what it said or speculate on who sent it.

Her father pleaded with his daughter to come home. Mr Jones said: "My wife is absolutely devastated. I just manage to keep myself going. I will not give up hope."

Counsellors are available from today for pupils and staff at Search: Danielle and her father, Tony Jones, who said: "I will not give up hope" Danielle's school, St Clere's Secondary. Head teacher Paul Griffiths said: "Many staff have children themselves and know what the family must be going through. This has cast a shadow over the whole school."

A van similar to the one Danielle was seen getting into was seen in the area on at least two previous occasions and teenagers were talking to the male driver, according to Joanne Nyland, 32, a near neighbour of the Jones family.

Police say they are acting on the information.

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