Phone may hold key to finding missing UK teen
A missing battered iPhone belonging to disappeared schoolgirl Alice Gross may hold key information that may help find her, Scotland Yard has revealed.
The white iPhone 4S with a distinctive cracked case the 14-year-old had colourfully decorated herself has yet to be found, two weeks since she vanished in west London, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Chalmers said.
He revealed that her black Vans rucksack, found by the edge of the River Brent, contained a change of underwear and also the Vans denim trainers she is believed to have been wearing when she left home on August 28.
But he also said the bag had been disturbed by two builders working nearby before being returned to where they found it, and it was possible other people had rifled it and moved it and its contents as well.
Mr Chalmers said that Alice, who was being treated for anorexia, was last seen on CCTV at around 4.30pm on August 28, but her iPhone continued to connect to the network until shortly after 5pm.
Mr Chalmers said: ``We know her profile online and we know a lot of the activity online, but we are also seeking to identify whether there is any hidden activity.
“That is one of the key reasons ... why we want to recover her iPhone.
“As any young person, she uses her iPhone as the predominant means of connecting to the internet, so there could very well be info there that would be absolutely key to understanding what she may have been planning.”
He added that the white iPhone has a cracked case, whose cracks had been coloured in by Alice using felt tip pens.
More than 200 police officers and staff from five forces are now involved in what remains a missing persons inquiry, he said.
Mr Chalmers called on anyone who might have picked up her smartphone to contact police as soon as possible.
