An English girl thought to have disappeared with a man she met in an internet chatroom has returned home safe and well. Thirteen-year-old Michaela Montague made it home after a nationwide appeal to trace her, arriving back at the family home in Shirley, Southampton, just before noon.
Her mother Sasha Bryant, 30, said she was relieved her daughter had returned, but would not comment further.
The teenager had gone missing from her home on Valentine's Day after visiting an Internet cafe. It had been feared she had disappeared with a man she met via an online chatroom.
Police received unconfirmed sightings of her in Gosport, near Portsmouth, where the family used to live.
Detective Inspector Dave Dilly, heading the investigation into the teenager's disappearance, said: "We are all very relieved that Michaela has turned up and that she is apparently safe and well."
Earlier today detectives said a man reported seeing Michaela in the Gosport area.
Det Insp Dilly said: "We now need to ascertain what she has been doing during the past four or five days.
"We obviously took this inquiry very seriously owing to the circumstances surrounding Michaela's disappearance. We are just relieved she has turned up."
Michaela's mother said she did not yet know where her daughter had been.
"It has been pretty bad over the past five days. I have been so worried. There just didn't seem to be any leads. Her friends didn't know anything and no one had seen her.
"We don't know what has been going on, we really don't. That will have to come out over time. She'll just have to tell us in her own time."
She appealed for anyone who may have known the whereabouts of her daughter during the past five days to contact police.
Miss Bryant said she would be controlling her daughter's access to the Internet in the future.
"She won't be going to the Internet cafe for sure. Not that I knew she was doing that, anyway. The impression I was given was that she had set up an account, but had not been for months before that.
"Previously we have gone together when she wanted to use the chatrooms so I could make sure she wasn't doing anything she shouldn't be."
She added that she did not think her daughter's disappearance was anything to do with the Internet. PA