Fears grow for missing teenager

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Detectives are growing "increasingly concerned" for the safety of a teenage girl who has been missing for a week with a man she met on the internet.

Fifteen-year-old Laura Stainforth, from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, was seen travelling on a ferry to Calais with 49-year-old Robert Andrew William.

The police investigation has now turned to France as officers work with Interpol to try and find her.

Police said Mr Williams was on bail over a teenage rape inquiry.

Durham Police said Mr Williams, also known as Dave Ingram, was arrested and questioned in Darlington in December over the alleged rape of a 16-year-old from West Sussex.

Laura has not been seen since she left home last Wednesday after telling her parents Debra and Robert that she was going shopping.

CCTV shows her and Mr Williams on the Pride of Kent ferry, which set sail from Dover at about 1700 GMT on Thursday.

The community as one want Laura to return safely Head teacher Mark Rushby

Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Whitgift School head teacher Mark Rushby described Laura as a "caring girl".

He said: "She is a very quiet sort of person. She has a small number of friends and keeps herself to herself."

He said since she had gone missing, the school had done something every day to keep Laura in their thoughts.

"I was asked the question, it's a week gone by, are we doing anything special? We've done something special every single day, because every day that Laura is missing is a day too many.

"The community as one want Laura to return safely."

Laura was described as a "caring girl" by head teacher Mark Rushby

More than 2,500 people have now joined a group called Find Laura Stainforth on social networking site Facebook.

One message reads: "I pray this young girl returns home safe and unharmed."

Det Ch Insp Sharon Fielding said they were following up sightings of Laura and Mr Williams in France and the UK.

She said: "We are working with colleagues in France and Interpol to try and ascertain their movements.

"The longer it is that we haven't seen her and no one has sightings of her, the more concern it is to me and Humberside Police."

The detective said Mr Williams was known to have contacts in Scotland and the north of England.

Laura is described as white, of medium build, with dark brown, shoulder length hair which was tied in a ponytail.

She was last seen wearing a fawn and cream-coloured zip-up jacket and light blue jeans and black trainers.