BRITAIN: The police detective leading the search in central England for two missing 10-year-old girls made a direct plea yesterday to any possible abductor who might be holding them. Best friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman disappeared near a Cambridgeshire sports centre on Sunday, but a massive police hunt and a £1 million reward have yet to yield a clue.
Police are increasingly convinced the girls were abducted.
"We remain optimistic that Holly and Jessica are alive and well. However, as the days continue, we must consider the possibility they are now being held against their will," Det Supt David Beck told reporters.
"If someone has taken the girls, they might not know what to do next . . . if the children are still there with you or you know where they are, then I would encourage you to contact a solicitor or someone else you can rely on.
"Get in touch with somebody so that we can get the girls home safely," he said.
Earlier yesterday, police released grainy CCTV footage of the girls, both dressed in red David Beckham Manchester United football tops, near the sports centre where they were last seen in the hope it might jog someone's memory.
Officers said they had already been contacted by four people, two men and two women, captured on the CCTV footage getting into parked cars minutes after the girls had gone past.
Police said the four were not suspected of any involvement in the girls' disappearance.
Witnesses, some of whom know Jessica and Holly, have told police they saw the girls in various places around the centre of Soham.
The most disturbing report was that they were seen walking towards a roundabout near a petrol station on the southern edge of Soham at about 7 p.m. on Sunday.
The roundabout is about a mile outside the centre of the town and near to main roads to other towns, including Newmarket.
But detectives stressed that the sighting near the garage had not been confirmed.
They said they were certain the girls had been near the war memorial in Soham at about 6.45 p.m. on Sunday and had been walking up the main street towards the town centre at about 6.30 p.m.
Footage from close circuit television cameras also showed the youngsters walking across the car- park of a sports centre near the centre of Soham at about 6.20 p.m.
It is thought they might have bought sweets from a machine in the centre before continuing on their journey.
Detectives also want to speak to a motorcyclist seen at the car-park and said a white van had been seen there, either loading or unloading.
Police said at least 250 officers, special waterway search teams and hundreds of local volunteers had thrown their weight behind the hunt. Surveillance aircraft have also been used.
Express newspapers on Wednesday offered £1 million for information. The unprecedented reward followed an earlier offer of £150,000 from the Sun and the News of the World, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire.
Manchester United star David Beckham has also pleaded for the girls to come home.
A friend of Holly Wells appealed yesterday to anyone holding her pal Jessica Chapman to let them go.
Sean Flack clutched a Valentine card which Holly had given him as he made a plea to a possible abductor to free the girls: "Let them go, just let them go, cos if they ain't done nothing to you why are you holding them? - (Reuters)