Police made a direct appeal this evening to the presumed abductor of two 10-year-old English girls to call them on a special telephone line "so that we can stop this now."
Detective Superintendent David Beck of Cambridgeshire police set a deadline of midnight Thursday for the kidnapper - or kidnappers - of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman to call in.
"It is giving these people, if they are more than one, an opportunity to have a one-to-one direct link contact with me," said Beck as the hunt for the girls went through its 10th day.
The number was being sent out as a voice mail and a text message to the cellphone that Jessica was carrying with her.
The two girls vanished on August 4th from their home in Soham, a quiet market town northeast of Cambridge.
They were last seen out walking in red Manchester United jerseys, not long after logging onto the Internet at Wells's home.
Detective Superintendent Beck said he still believed the girls were alive. "There are still two girls out there who I believe to be alive," he said.
PA