Friend tells of worry for girls

Humfrey Hunter12 April 2012

A close friend of missing Holly Wells told today how they enjoyed a midnight feast the night before Holly disappeared with Jessica Chapman.

Natalie Parr, 10, stayed at Holly's house last Saturday night after they spent the day together.

As Natalie's father talked about how it could have been his own daughter who went missing, she said the two girls had a "brilliant" time listening to music and buying sweets for their midnight feast.

Six hours after Natalie left her friend's house in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on Sunday, Holly and Jessica, also both 10, vanished.

As the search for the girls enters its fifth day, police have no idea where they are and fear they may have been abducted. Natalie, who is in the same class as the missing girls, said she is worried about her friends.

She added: "I have been crying quite a bit. I sometimes do when the news tells me things I don't already know.

"I just want them back. Sometimes I cry myself to sleep at night just worrying about them.

"I am thinking the worst. On the first day I thought they were on an adventure but it's been days now that they have not been at home. You just think they have been taken. I would just say to them, 'Phone somebody'.

"We need to know they are safe. We want them to come home." Natalie described the time she spent with Holly before she disappeared: "On Saturday we went shopping then we went to buy some sweets. On Saturday night we stayed up really late and had a midnight feast. It was brilliant.

"We stayed in bed quite late on Sunday morning. We got up and listened to some music. It was S Club Juniors, then Jessica came round. We listened to some more music, went on the internet, then I went home.

"That was the last time I saw them. Then, at 2am on Monday, there was a policeman in the kitchen asking me questions."

Natalie's father, Mark, today described how he felt when he realised it could easily have been his own daughter who had gone missing. He said: "When we first found out we were in shock. Your mind starts to race and you ask yourself what you would do if it was your child."

Other school friends took part in a candlelit vigil held in Soham for the girls.

One of them, nine-yearold Charlene Moden, said: "Holly was a great friend to me, and I am missing her terribly. I felt I had to do something to help her come back. I was moved and upset in the church, but I am glad I went."

Another classmate, Stevie Harrison, also appealed for the girls to make contact. "Please come back," she said. "Just find a phone and call 999 because it's not that hard. Just do it."

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