Paige Chivers disappearance: police search wasteland after new lead

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/07/paige-chivers-police-search-bispham

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Police investigating the suspected murder of a 15-year-old girl are searching an area of land near where she was last seen in 2007.

Detectives are acting on new information about the possible location of the body of Paige Chivers after a £30,000 reward was offered last month.

Paige disappeared after she boarded a bus near her family home in Bispham, Blackpool, in August 2007. Since then, four people have been arrested on suspicion of her murder, and later released without charge.

The search is focused on an overgrown patch of land off All Hallows Road behind All Hallows Church in Bispham. Lancashire constabulary said officers would strip back the vegetation before deciding on the next step in the search process.

The inquiry team is being assisted by advisers from the National Crime Agency and forensic scientists. Officers will be carrying out house-to-house inquiries in the area to try to trace people who lived there at the time. Police said Paige's family were aware of developments and were being kept informed.

DS Andy Webster said: "While we are keeping an open mind about what we may find, if anything, at this site, we do believe the information we have received is genuine and we are treating it seriously. We are taking a graduated approach to the search and we will first clear the area and assess it to see what the best approach is to searching further.

"If someone does have information but is reluctant to come forward due to fears arising either from their own involvement in criminality or they may have played minor role in assisting Paige's killer or killers, I would still ask them to come forward and speak to us. Our primary objective remains to identify Paige's killer or killers and recover her body so her family can lay her to rest.

"We are also keen to tie down Paige's movements around the bank holiday weekend in August 2007 and would ask anyone with information about that, however small, to contact us."

Last month, police began searching a derelict block of flats in All Hallows Road as part of the inquiry. They said "nothing immediately significant" was found but forensic tests were continuing.

Paige left her home in Longford Avenue, Bispham, on 23 August 2007 following a family row and boarded a bus in nearby Ashfield Road, heading to Blackpool