Missing schoolgirl found safe
Missing British schoolgirl Stacey Champ and David Milner were today found safe and well in the north of Scotland, a Northern Constabulary spokesman said.
The pair were found by police at Berriedale, near Wick, Caithness, at around 6.20am.
A police spokesman said the two people were being taken to Wick police station.
“At this moment, we have no information about what they will be doing after that,” he said.
Inspector Richard Watson, leading the inquiry for police in Kent said: ``At 6.20am we received a telephone call from our colleagues in the north of Scotland to say that both Stacey and Mr Milner had been found.
He said they were found with a VW Golf the pair bought in Lancashire..
“Stacey is well and Mr Milner is currently in custody,” Insp Watson added.
“We could not have done this without the support of the media and the public. We have had over 3,000 calls on this and that has led to them being found.”
The schoolgirl went missing from her family home in Gillingham, Kent, on Thursday. Insp Watson said that Stacey’s mother Angela, was “delighted” at the news she had been found.
A police spokesman said that Mr Milner will be transferred back to Kent under police escort, while Stacey was planning to return to the county later today.
Stacey, 14, and Mr Milner, 46, were found by a police patrol, the spokesman said.
Police discovered the pair had stayed together at a Blackpool hotel, posing as husband and wife.
A woman who saw them at The Central Hotel in the Lancashire resort, before they left pulling a large black suitcase, said Stacey was “giggling” and seemed “quite lovestruck”.
The pair stayed in a double room at the hotel on Thursday and Friday night but left at around 12.30pm on Saturday.
Julie Barton told Sky News: “They introduced themselves as Stacey and Dave. They actually said they had been married for two years.
“She struck me as being quite immature for 22. She was holding his hand and giggling and she seemed quite lovestruck actually.”
On Saturday, Stacey’s 33-year-old mother Angela made an emotional public appeal, telling her daughter she loved her.
Police had established that Stacey was in Newbury, Berkshire, on Thursday, from where it is believed they went to Bristol before making their way to Blackpool.
A white Escort van, thought to belong to Milner, was found at Temple Meads railway station in Bristol.
The odd couple, who booked into the hotel under the name Mr and Mrs Thomas, later bought a red VW Golf for £300 (€431) from a private dealer in Lancashire.
