Episode 1 Reported Missing

PHONE RINGS

Police emergency?

Every two minutes, someone in Britain is reported missing.

You feel total panic.

Is there anything in the address that shows

any sort of planned absences? Any notes?

There are hundreds of different reasons as to why people might

be missing from home.

-REPORTER:

-Concerns are growing for the welfare

of a missing Darlington pensioner.

Archie!

Losing time can be catastrophic.

They key for each investigation is to piece together

the missing person's last known movements.

Some crumb, a sighting, that's what we're after.

Proof of life.

What is going on in your head?

Where are you going?

What are you going to go and do next?

Following Durham Police,

cameras capture everyone's perspective, minute by minute,

as the cases unfold.

You saw the male at the cemetery?

We seen him leaving the cemetery and turning right.

For loved ones left at home, everything hangs in the balance.

You see people missing all the time, but you don't actually feel it,

do you, until it actually happens to somebody who's close.

It's the worst feeling in the world.

It doesn't matter how close you are to somebody, everybody has secrets.

I found him! I've just found him, I've just found him now!

I want to know where my son is.

I need to be with him.

Darlington, 8pm.

I'll print some copies out for everybody.

Durham Police receive 47 missing children's reports a week.

But Joshua's learning difficulties make him

an especially high priority.

When they say that the child's got learning difficulties,

-do we know the nature of those?

-That's all we've got at the minute.

They're just going to the address now to try and get further details.

At Darlington police station,

Inspector Sarah Honeyman calls Joshua's mother.

Emily, I've got officers en route to you now.

There's just a couple of questions that I'd like to ask, just to help.

If there's anywhere else you can think of that our other officers

could be checking?

Your mum's? What's her address?

I know you are, I know.

It's starting to get dark, isn't it?

All right, OK, we'll be with you very shortly, but we are looking.

Your child is the most precious thing in your life.

As a parent myself, you'd really be looking for somebody to say,

"Everything's going to be OK."

But you can't give that guarantee, and it would be wrong to.

We've only got about another hour of daylight, if that.

-I'll go and see who's available.

-Half an hour. Thanks, Barry.

You can only tell them that you will do absolutely everything

in your power to locate their loved one.

Outside his home address,

PCs Simon Hopper and Jane Muir have completed a search of the area,

but have found no sign of Joshua.

You've got all of us looking for him.

Yeah.

-Well, we shall do our best to find him for you, OK?

-OK.

Joshua's mum is partially deaf,

and wasn't able to hear her son leaving the house.

We're going to put a request in for the Council, just to check on their

cameras, cos hopefully Joshua will have ran that way

into the park, and then we can sort of...

If the camera picks him up, we can sort of see if he's gone...

-Where he's gone.

-Yeah.

So into the moor, or across towards Neasham Road, Yarm Road,

sort of way.

2406 Darlington CCTV.

Your camera that's looking into Eastbourne Park

at the minute...

It's just whether your camera would have been pointing this way,

or is it generally pointing into the park?

Jane, is there any update, and what was his demeanour like?

He's had a fallout about not being allowed access to his tablet,

and he's bolted out the back of the house.

Although this has happened before, he's never been out this late.

What's happened is they've had an argument and he stormed out,

so he's gone in a mood.

With CCTV unable to provide any evidence of Joshua's

direction of travel,

officers need to understand more about his ability

to cope on his own.

Would he know to ask for help if he was worried

about being away from you for too long and needed to get back?

-He'd know how to?

-I always say, "Go to Darlington Police Station."

Does he have any money on him at all?

No. It's all there, I've just counted.

-Mobile phone?

-He doesn't have one.

-OK.

Has Joshua got any siblings, brothers or sisters?

-No.

-So it's just you and Joshua that live here?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

He run off to calm himself down.

It's his release, I think, of whatever's going on his head.

SHE BREATHES HEAVILY

I can't stop, my whole body shakes when I'm worried.

Joshua was slow to develop as a child,

and recently he's been struggling to cope with his emotions.

This is the third time he's run away in the last two months.

But he has always returned before nightfall.

'Right you are then.

'Oh, you got one!'

When I had Josh, he was five weeks premature,

and they took him away, put him in an incubator.

And I thought he wasn't coming back to me.

Because he was premature,

he was not developing as much as he should have done when he was a baby.

He wasn't hearing properly, and he wasn't speaking properly.

I said, "No matter how hard it gets,

"we're going to get through it together."

I hate it, I hate it, feeling like this.

I am so scared now.

Because he could be hit by a car.

I've explain the dangers, and strangers.

Can I have a quick look round? Do you mind?

Just sometimes children hide and things, so...

A lot of the times, we can be confident in that,

although we're worried for the children that are missing,

that they are streetwise, they can look after themselves to a degree.

With Josh, because of his age, his level of maturity,

his ability to cope socially outside,

when you get all of those factors put together,

you're dealing with a child that is vulnerable.

Then you do start to worry.

-You said he's got an all-day bus ticket.

-Yeah.

Does that allow travel outside of Darlington?

-No, just in Darlington.

-All right, so it could only be on Darlington

-on the transport with that ticket?

-Yeah.

So we've got a 12-year-old boy that's missing from home

that we've got concerns for.

So just wondering, with it getting dark now,

if there's any chance of you getting a message out

to your drivers with a description of him?

With an all-day bus pass,

Joshua can travel up to four miles in any direction.

And in the three and a half hours he's now been missing,

he could be anywhere in Darlington.

Evening.

We've got a 12-year-old missing person, five-foot-tall,

wearing a white superhero T-shirt, and with blue glasses

and mousy blonde hair.

-Walking round the town?

-Possibly.

Could be in the town, mate, could be in the town.

As soon as I see him, I'll give you a ring.

Cheers, lads, thank you.

'We've been requested by supervision to assist with this search for this

'12-year-old MISPA. Can you give us some information, please?'

He's in the 12 to 14 category.

Statistics from previous cases have been gathered together

to create guidelines to help the police prioritise where to search

for missing people.

It would say that the top quarter would be found at their home address

or have returned to their home address.

The next 24% at a friend's address,

and then 19% traced walking in a public street or park.

In Joshua's case, he is known to frequent a couple

of the parks in Darlington.

Alan, if you concentrate your efforts around the town centre

and parks and recreational areas, apparently he goes into parks,

and he's quite open to talking to people.

This is a hang-out spot for a lot of our missing kids.

Evening. You all right?

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

Officers have now searched the town centre, checked parks,

and admissions at the local hospital.

But there is still no trace of Joshua.

They need to gain more insight into his character...

..in the hope it offers new clues as to where he might be.

So he wears... He's got a superhero T-shirt on?

Oh, he wants to be like Doctor Who.

He thinks he's a superhero at the moment.

The Avengers on...? Yeah!

He wants to be Captain America, cos that's his idol.

It's someone to look up to.

How about friends in other areas?

No.

He thinks he's a big hard lad, and he's not.

He's a big softie.

He's got a great nature.

That's Mikey out the Ninja Turtles.

-What about this?

-That's The Master on Doctor Who.

Eh, Grandad?

'It's Doctor Who.

'It's all Doctor Who.

'He can name all his enemies, you know,'

the Daleks, and all the other...

people that Doctor Who's been against.

It's fantasy, and it's away from reality, I suppose.

And he can pretend...

..in his own mind, that he's one of those.

If he likes the fantastical elements,

and if he's had an argument with his mother,

then he is maybe going to try and create his own adventure.

To escape the pain of the argument that he's had.

But with kids, especially younger kids,

who maybe don't have the social circle,

it is a massive worry, because you wonder,

"Is this child just basically wandering around all over the place,

"too scared to come home?"

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

Not yet.

I'm bearing up.

OK, Mum.

I don't like it.

I don't like feeling like I'm helpless and useless.

I can't sit still.

It's the scariest moment, not knowing where he is.

Is he all right? Has he hurt himself?

I feel guilty.

He's my son. It's my responsibility, as a mum, to be his protection.

And that's why I feel guilty.

We shouted at each other.

He says nasty things, so I say nasty things back.

And that's why I feel guilty,

because I shouldn't have said it.

'She's having a rough time, with her being on her own.'

I just want to cuddle him, I just want to know he's safe.

'Other people, you know, they've got their partners.'

If the kids are getting wild,

they're riling Mum up, she can pass them to Dad.

She hasn't got that.

We try and help her out.

I really do love him.

The longer it takes, I just want him home.

CCTV have spotted something that's aroused their suspicion.

So he's not with them, he's sat on his own watching.

He's sat aside from the group playing basketball, watching them,

sat on a bench.

It's a good chance that...

Well, it's the best you've had so far.

Darlington CCTV from 2724.

We're entering Lascelles Park.

That lad hasn't made off, has he?

-Don't believe so.

-How're you doing, kids? All right?

What's your name?

-Luke.

-How you doing, Luke? All right?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

A young lad called Josh, who's gone missing from home.

He's only 12-years-old, right.

-Does he have glasses?

-He has glasses, yeah.

Yeah, I know someone who lives down there.

When was that, mate? Do remember when that was?

-About half-past three, four o'clock.

-About half-past three, four o'clock?

-Yeah.

-Okey dokey. All right.

-What time did he go missing?

-About five.

1762 from 2724.

We have a confirmed sighting, but by the little kid,

who said it was half-past three,

but you have to question his concept of time when Mam's saying

it was much later than that.

You're now thinking, "It's late, why hasn't he been spotted?"

You know, "Why hasn't anybody rang in yet?"

He's a 12-year-old boy.

What skills does he have to manage to get through

a night in the dark with nobody?

Nearly half of all missing 12-year-olds

are found in under five hours.

It's stressing me out now.

The search to find Joshua has now passed that limit.

I'm just waiting here in case he turns up at home.

Well, there's a worry from one of the previous officers, who had

face-to-face dealings with him, that he's quite talkative to strangers.

So the concern would be that, is he aware of these dangers,

personal safety?

That's the main concern at the moment, for me.

The biggest fear is that somebody snatches that child.

As a police officer, you're very well aware that there's

more people out there that would do that than maybe

the general public think or believe.

At 38, I wouldn't want to be in Darlington town centre

at ten o'clock on a Tuesday night by myself

with no resources and no ability to get home,

and he's a 12-year-old boy.

He's putting himself in an extremely vulnerable position

by walking out of home, and perhaps he doesn't understand

the seriousness of the situation.

'This is the frightening thing, that he just goes off anywhere.

'He's running away from everything he knows'

and then he's in his own little bubble,

but he doesn't seem to have fear.

This is the frightening thing.

He's so friendly.

We've tried to explain to him that there's men and women out there.

I said, "Cos you're too friendly, you're too trusting,

"they could quite easily take you away.

"They could harm you, both physically, mentally."

What has happened to a young girl up the road.

17, never came home.

She was murdered.

It was a few years ago.

She'd met somebody online and he'd groomed her, but unfortunately,

she was found murdered, just on the outskirts of Darlington.

Your experience will tell you that it's not likely to turn out badly,

but you're aware that this could be the case that does.

This is not like Josh.

Ten to ten now.

Come on, Joshua.

Knock on the door, do something to let me know you're all right.

Where is he?

I feel ill now.

I want to know where my son is.

I want to go and find him.

I need to be with him, wherever he is, if he's been hurt

or anything like that.

PHONE RINGS

INDISTINCT

Yes, erm...

When you get that call that they're with another police force,

or another police station, and you know they're with colleagues...

and you know that you can safely make that call to Mum

and pass on the good news...

..for everybody involved, it really is a sense of relief.

KNOCK ON DOOR

-Hello.

-Still no sign?

-No, we've got some excellent news. He's been found.

-Where was he?

He's in South Shields, believe it or not.

It's all right, he's been found.

No, but that's not the point.

-I thought the worst.

-I know.

-Thank you.

-All right?

-Yeah.

He's safe and sound, he's come to no harm.

He's with our friends over in Northumbria,

so we're going to drive straight up there

and get him and bring him back.

He's probably just got on a bus and thought he was near to home and not

realised how far he's travelled, so...

All right? Are you OK?

Not really, no.

I know it's upsetting, but...

-I just want to cuddle him, but...

-I know.

-..I'm angry as well.

-Yeah.

It's natural. You get it with kids.

You want to cuddle them and strangle them at the same time.

South Shields is...

It's not exactly the nearest point in Northumbria's area.

No, it's not.

So it's fair to say that he's not been found this evening

where we would have expected to find him.

Come on then, you little monster, take your mask off.

Let's see your face. Haway, then.

Right.

-You can come to South Shields with your mum.

-OK.

-With your mum next time.

-Yeah.

I'm Simon.

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you, too.

Right, now we've got that out of the way, like I say,

I did warn you there was going to be a telling-off part of this.

-Yeah.

-OK? And part of that is that you have done something today

that is bad...

..daft and has also led to your mum being terrified

as to where you are and what's been up with you.

And just think, anything could've happened to you while you've been on

that bus today, travelling all over the place,

and no-one would've known.

It's hard to be a parent.

I have struggled with Josh.

His dad's never bothered with him, so...

He's craving for friendship.

He hasn't got a dad figure, so maybe his need to talk,

or get his frustration out on something.

It does scare me because I don't know what's going on

through that little head.

I'm shattered.

But not time for my bed.

-What time do you normally go to bed?

-About nine-ish.

Being a fan of the superheroes as you are...

-Yeah.

-..do you look up to them?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

I'm going to go back to being like a bit of a boring policeman type,

dad type person, all right?

And give you a bit of advice, all right?

If you like the superheroes so much...

..what do you think the superheroes would have done today?

What would have been the right thing to do?

Go to their own planet and think it out.

So let's have your bedroom be your home planet,

that's like your crypt on your Fortress of Solitude.

-Gallifrey.

-The Gallifrey.

You bedroom is your Gallifrey, right?

Yeah, which is Doctor Who.

Can I have that as a promise?

-Yeah?

-Yep.

Pinkie promise, you can't back out of that.

No. Double pinkie.

Ah! You're just trying to arm wrestle with me, aren't you?

It's like a secret way to get me into an arm wrestle!

No, it's a double pinkie!

I'm sorry, Mam.

-That's not nice, is it?

-No.

And how did you get to South Shields?

-What money did you have?

-I didn't. I used that bus ticket.

That shouldn't have got you to South Shields.

-Well, it did.

-Yeah, I think the bus drivers haven't been

paying that much attention.

But I fairly made sure that he's never going to run off again,

because we have twice quadrupled pinkie promised.

-It's not a laughing matter, Josh, it's serious.

-I'm not laughing.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

'He should be old enough now not to do things like this.'

But Josh won't open up of why he's done it.

"I just feel the need to do it."

In the nicest possible way, fingers crossed we don't see you again.

-Hopefully. Thank you.

-Cheers.

INTERVIEWER: Do you understand why your mum gets cross?

-Yeah.

-And your grandparents?

Why is that, do you reckon, though?

Because they know that something's wrong with me.

But they don't like me running away.

They care about me so much.

What sort of stuff goes through your mind?

Hatred, stress...

..anger, fear.

Fear.

-What, all those things?

-Yep.

It's kind of hard to be like a kid

that's not different to the rest,

but keeps on getting bullied by other kids.

They just have a go at me, push me, punch me,

and all these nasty other things that I can't go into details about.

They're not very nice at all.

'The most common age groups with missing from home

'is probably sort of 14 to 16.'

I think it's a really difficult age for most young people.

I think it's about fitting in.

Children want to fit in, be with their peer groups.

And if they don't adhere to that,

and their friends at school or their associates at school

think that they don't dress the same way as they do

or it's not fashionable,

then that just becomes another factor to be picked on for.

And they just don't realise,

they're just not old enough and not wise enough

to realise the impact that that's having.

It will be revenge!

PHONE RINGS

Police emergency?

What does it say on the note?

Nearly half of all children are victims of bullying

at some point during their secondary school lives.

She's never done anything like that before, no?

What's her name?

-It's Katie.

-Katie?

She's never once run away.

She always ends up talking to us about it.

I'll put Lynsey on for you, Sheila, hold on.

-All right. Here, it's your Sheila.

-OK, thank you.

Hiya, honey.

Aye, there's one just in there.

No, it's all right, sweetheart.

We've got all the police and everything over,

and I'll keep you informed.

But if you see or hear anything, just let us know.

Mum Jackie and her partner Lynsey have not seen Katie

since they left for work at nine o'clock this morning.

No, we've kept her at home this week cos there's been an issue with

her schooling.

-Jackie?

-Yeah?

On Katie's laptop here there's a password hint - Mario.

-All right, thank you.

-Does that...?

-Oh, Yoshi.

-Yoshi?

-Yoshi.

-Will do, thank you, honey.

-Spot on.

The missing person in a negative frame of mind

is a completely different matter to deal with.

And when you find a suicide note,

everything else goes out the window.

The parade room at the station will empty

and you will get every available officer

will go and look for that child.

Within 15 minutes of the 999 call,

there are ten police officers searching

the Ferryhill area for Katie.

Police Search and Rescue Adviser Paul Black is across the case.

So, what we've got is Katie Breen, 13 years of age,

who lives just over the back in this housing estate here.

She's been having problems at school, issues with other kids.

This morning her mum and her partner have gone to work,

she was going to be staying at home.

The grandparents arrived at the home address

and have found a note from the child basically saying,

"Too much, goodbye."

We want to allocate, say, four officers for each area

-and start doing that now.

-Right. Yeah, just get them pushed on.

Get them pushed on.

If somebody can keep a log of who's gone into which area.

-Who's gone into which area, yeah.

-And then the time they started,

-the time they finished.

-Right.

There's no hard and fast rules.

Everyone has their own story

and different triggers.

-About the girl, you haven't seen anyone?

-I haven't seen anybody.

No-one at all? Thank you.

So you've got to try and understand that individual

at that moment in time.

The first hour of any missing persons case is crucial.

-Did she take a phone with her?

-No, she's not taken her phone.

But with Katie's parents at work,

it was a full two hours before her absence was reported to police.

Paul and his team are already behind.

Every minute that goes by, that worry increases.

And the longer it takes us to get going on our search,

the more critical it is to the individual that's missing.

She's planned it, though.

Because she's left a two-page letter.

It's the darkness in the letter. In the, you know, like,

what she says in the letter,

it's just so disturbing and so worrying.

It's not just, "I'm running away, I can't take it any more."

It's, "I'm running away and you'll see me in the sky."

That day, I remember snippets of that day.

To be honest, I seen her going to her bed the night before,

there was no...

There was no signs that it was affecting her that much.

And that's the scary thing.

Because we always felt we knew...

we knew her better, we...

we could see these things.

And I spoke to the deputy head, who was trying to sort it out,

and literally ten minutes before I found out all of this

he phoned me to say,

"Right, I've managed to get her back into the form that she was in."

Katie's worries about school worsened

after learning she was moving into a class

with some of the children who were causing her problems.

These people who have been bullying her at the school,

has she had any contact via, you know...

They text Eden all the time.

Her pal Eden, she's been a really good friend with Katie.

But these girls are so cruel.

You know, they literally texted and said,

"You can get back into the group if you dump Katie."

So I would suggest probably...

It's all right. I would suggest probably maybe speaking to Eden.

My friends that I had didn't like her

and didn't want her to hang around with us.

I think they were just expecting me to kind of say,

"Oh, sorry Katie, my friends don't like you, bye."

But I didn't want to do that

because we got on so well.

Being moved to the new class

meant leaving behind her only close friend.

I knew that she wasn't going to be in school that day.

It was break, and I got a text,

"I'm running away, possibly killing myself.

"You're the best friend I've ever had, I love you."

A lot of me was hoping

that it was just a complete over-exaggeration, but

there was another big part of me

that knew that that just wasn't the case,

that it was serious, and immediate panic set in.

I did know for a fact that if she wasn't found,

that anyone who was responsible,

I'd refuse to speak to them again.

That was kind of what I'd promised myself.

It wasn't just that she was fed up with the way things were.

She went to kill herself.

It was that bad.

And that...

..that's a parent's worst nightmare.

With a confirmed sighting from Katie's neighbour,

the police's search focuses on the local woods

and a nearby disused quarry.

Air support is vital.

To cover an area like that on foot

and to cover it thoroughly,

you're talking days.

We didn't have that option.

Any update re NPAS?

Someone who may be in the public arena with a firearm

is a greater and immediate risk to the wider public.

Unfortunately, with cuts,

we now have to share the air support resource with other police forces.

So there's only one or two helicopters

in the north-east region.

And sadly we're not first in the queue on this occasion.

With air support unavailable,

the whole area must be searched on foot.

Because the police are keen to get out as well,

I want you in front, I don't want you behind.

Yeah, yeah, ready to go.

A team of mountain rescue volunteers and their specialist search dog

are called in to assist.

We literally, we've just had confirmation the place last seen

-is actually here.

-Right.

So she's gone down there.

What I want you to do,

down the track here,

and Dave will take you down, then turn right here.

There's the quarry here,

which we've searched on a number of occasions for similar issues.

-The further on that you get, the steeper it gets.

-OK.

Their first task will be to head into the woods

to see if they can pick up Katie's scent.

As far as the dog's concerned,

it's playing a big game of hide and seek.

Somebody's out there hiding, and it's the dog to find it.

Have you found anything on there to do with it?

There's literally one document,

-which looks like some kind of role play, almost like a script.

-Mm-hm.

Back at her house,

PC Matt Gunby is searching Katie's laptop for any clues

as to her whereabouts.

The reason why initially I started looking through the computer

was in case she'd written anything else on there,

if she had any kind of diary or anything like that.

But there was nothing really that kind of gave the game away

as to where she might have gone.

She just seemed like a normal teenager.

That's her when we were in Scotland.

-She was only...

-Nine.

-Nine.

Katie, Jackie and Lynsey moved down from Scotland

for a fresh start four years ago,

after Jackie and Katie's father got divorced.

She's grown up a lot since then.

LAUGHING

Katie was always with me.

From the moment Katie was born, Katie hardly ever left my side.

She was a very bubbly, very happy child.

She was very outgoing.

She wanted to be friends with everybody,

she wanted to sort the world.

She got involved in all the school plays

and she was singing,

and I was just so proud of her.

Lynsey and myself were both like, you know, "Wow!"

I always thought I was going to be

one of those people who wasn't lucky enough to have kids at all.

And it's been the best thing that's ever happened to us.

I've seized a laptop which I've managed to access,

and the password for that is Yoshi,

just in case you need that for anything.

There you go. Nice one, cheers.

She's such a loving wee lassie.

You know, even in the letter she wrote she says, you know,

"You and ma maw, you cuddle close at night and know I'll be with you.

"And know that I'm in..." What was it?

"At night, when you look at the moon, I'll be there."

That people can make somebody feel like that...

DOG'S BELL JANGLES

It started when she started secondary school.

The people that she was hanging about with wanted to do that,

"I'm not a kid any more, I want to be an adult."

Katie being Katie went,

"Well, I'm not ready for that yet. I don't want to grow up yet."

In secondary school,

a lot of people look down on you if you're different.

Fake tan, draw their eyebrows on, like,

have to look their idea of perfect.

So, if you're not, you're not as good as everyone else.

It made it worse because she obviously had, you know, two mums.

And people just saw her as an easy target, and it was a case of,

"Oh, my God, you know, not only are you Scottish but you're weird

"and you're a weirdo with two mums."

Down here, the big safety concern is that's the north-east mainline,

and it's really busy.

We don't like to get people or animals near

the north-east mainline.

And I guess sometimes bullies don't even realise

that they're being bullies, you know.

At school she was never,

ever something that they'd really experienced too much.

You can be surrounded by hundreds of people,

but you can still feel really alone.

It almost feels as if nobody cares.

You feel like the worst parent ever.

"I told you I would sort this, Katie.

"I told you to trust me on this."

And that feeling of failure,

that she didn't trust us enough to do that.

I failed, cos I didn't protect her.

Police are seriously concerned for the welfare of a missing 13-year-old

County Durham girl.

Katie, from Ferryhill, was last seen by a neighbour early this morning.

3:15pm.

With air support still unavailable,

there are now 25 police officers combing an area seven-miles-square

for any trace of Katie.

-Any updates?

-PHONE RINGS

Nothing. No.

No. None of us are all right.

It's the waiting. And just knowing she's out there.

She likes her food, I know, so she'll be hungry.

Especially since she only took a jar of pickles.

Is there one in the fridge or two?

There was two, she's only took one.

No she's not, that was me the other week there.

So she hasn't took anything? She hasn't taken anything to eat.

LYNSEY SIGHS DEEPLY

If there's been a little bit of preparation behind it

and they've taken food, water, or taken their mobile,

that would be less of an issue.

But if it looks as though they haven't prepared

and they've just left everything and gone,

that increases the risk, for me.

They're not thinking about their own welfare,

they're not thinking about survivability.

Clearly they're not wanting to be out for long periods of time.

The longer it goes on, I'm starting to fear the worst.

Not that I want to think the worst's happened,

but I'm starting in the back of my mind to think,

"It's not looking good."

3:38pm.

After nearly seven hours of searching without success,

air support is finally on-hand to aid the units on the ground.

Can you just give particular attention

to the marshland and the open water

that is labelled on the OS map as The Carrs?

The boggy area that we can't get into

will be where the infrared will be of most use, if he's using it.

Cos the water in there will be relatively cool

and anything that's alive in there will be relatively warm.

So you'll get a big temperature difference,

and hence a big difference in the amount of infrared radiation giving out,

which will stand out a mile on his camera.

NPAS 31.

NPAS, go ahead.

NPAS 31, has this female got a dog with her?

I'm liaison at the minute for the missing person's family.

The dogs are all accounted for, they're here in the address.

The helicopter covers all the open ground,

but can find no sign of Katie.

Hiya. Did you by any chance see Katie leave the house this morning?

No.

-That's what all this is...

-Oh, God.

-Is she missing?

What, did she not go to school?

No.

JACKIE SOBS

JACKIE EXHALES DEEPLY

Hey.

Come here.

-Come here.

-JACKIE SNIFFS AND EXHALES

Come here.

Come here.

They'll find her.

She's coming home.

She's coming home.

'How on earth do I try and make her feel better about what's going on?

'How do I give her some reassurance

'that everything's going to be all right?

'Because I don't know if it's going to be.'

-They will find her.

-JACKIE EXHALES DEEPLY

It'll be all right.

Everything that is going on through that earpiece in that radio

you have to listen to,

you have to know what's going on outside that house.

And it's up to you to decide what you tell the family

and what you don't.

We're going to do the entire estate, all right,

not just the route where she's been seen.

The helicopter, as you've heard,

is in the air now.

'I can't promise people that things are going to be all right.'

So...how do you fill the silence?

CLOCK TICKS

-Come on then, come on then.

-DOG'S BELL JANGLES

I've done up to that first basin, just in there.

I've done that. Crossed the footpath, up to the top,

and then back to the top end of the wood.

'I believe I've located the cave.

'I've had a good hunt round and I can't see anything obvious.'

'Yeah, I've checked the farm track at the back,

'I've checked the footbridge that goes through the railway line,

'and it's a negative.'

'Big hollow wooded area,

'I've managed to get out the other end, I'm fairly happy that's clear.'

'Is there any reason why she would go to Trimdon?'

No.

The only time we go to Trimdon is we go for a takeaway and that,

-but we basically come straight back.

-Yeah.

Trimdon is not a place that I would say.

I just, I can't see her being able to get to Trimdon.

'I'm just waiting for the sergeant to contact me,'

he said he's got...

they've got her. She's all right.

JACKIE GASPS

SHE CRIES

I told you, I told you.

Oh...

Thank you.

-Is she OK?

-She's all right.

-She's all right.

-Where is she?

That was her on the road to Trimdon.

-It WAS her?

-Oh, God!

-It was her, yeah.

Confirming she is fit and well.

Oh, Good. Good.

-Here she is.

-Jackie, she's here, baby!

Oh, baby, come here!

Come here.

-KATIE CRIES

-Oh, darling. You should have talked to us.

I didn't want yous to be angry when yous came home.

Oh, darling. We would never have been angry.

Oh, darling.

You can always talk to us, you know that.

We love you so much.

-KATIE SOBS

-Oh, baby.

Come on.

Come on.

We love you so much.

Please don't ever forget that.

-Oh, baby.

-Are you tired, kid?

-Mm.

Katie, these bullies,

it's not worth it, don't let them ruin your life.

It's just not worth it.

You've got a loving family here,

they've been so worried about you.

It's not worth it at all, kiddo.

-Yeah?

-And do you know something,

they haven't got half of what you've got.

And that is...

Grounded till you're 30!

No, a pure heart and a loving heart.

All right, take care now.

Thank you so much.

-Why Trimdon?

-I don't know, I just followed the road.

-You just kept walking.

-Just kept walking.

I can relate to Katie's case, quite a lot.

There were times where I did get bullied.

You feel worthless. You feel pathetic.

You feel like you can't talk to anyone about it.

It's not weird, it's not wrong to have those thoughts.

We're all human, we all suffer

at one time or another.

But what is important is that if you find yourself having those thoughts,

that you discuss it with people.

Hello, sweetheart.

-Hello, you. You all right?

-Aye, just about...

You see how many people love you and how many people have been worried,

because we love you.

And you need to always remember that.

Kids don't just need to talk to you, you need to talk to your kids.

You need to be aware of what's going on.

You need to, you know, pay attention to not only the big stuff,

but it's the little stuff that people miss on a daily basis.

Cos it makes all the difference.

Are you going to do your job, son?

Yeah.

Are you going to help put the washing out?

Yeah. I'll sort my magazines into the ones that I want and don't want.

Exactly.

Over in Darlington,

Joshua is trying to put his difficulties at school behind him,

and is working hard to make amends for running away.

-INTERVIEWER:

-Do you think you'll be OK in the future?

Yeah, I will be, I'll be fine.

I can manage. Even though it can be hard to do.

But you can always look up to the universe...

..and the birds and the stars, if you're looking out at night.

It's actually quite magical and powerful.

And I'm not afraid to tell the whole world about this,

because I did go through this,

and this is my life story.

And that's me.

Ducks!

SHE LAUGHS

I've worried you this time!

Yeah, but I beat you last time.

Five months on, Katie is back in her old class with Eden,

and studying hard for her exams.

-INTERVIEWER:

-What do you want to do?

I want to be a zoologist.

-Why?

-Cos I like animals more than I like people!

After the whole events, I had a counsellor.

Sharing it made me feel a lot better about it,

coos I was able to just get it out of my system and talk about it.

So I didn't feel as though it was all bubbled up inside.

There's still ups and downs,

but things are definitely going in the right direction now.

We're not the most popular, not the most cool, but, you know,

we've got a good group of people who will always have my back,

I'll always have theirs.

And I think it's important that Katie now knows

that she does as well.

I know it sometimes seems like

there'll never be a light at the end of the tunnel,

but you're not alone, there's other people

who are in that tunnel as well.

You can walk together and find your way out.

Next time...

A call came in from the wife.

She hadn't seen her husband since Saturday.

Four days after, I would expect a sighting,

like a proof of life.

But it's almost like he'd just

disappeared off the face of the Earth.