Police appeal 20 years on from girl’s disappearance

POLICE have issued an anniversary appeal 20 years on from the disappearance of a 14-yearold girl, saying: “It’s now time to tell.”

Sarah Benford was last seen in the Kettering area of Northamptonshire on April 6, 2000, before a murder probe was launched three years later.

Speaking on the anniversary of her disappearance, Detective Sergeant Julie Gallagher of Northamptonshire Police said that despite having no current suspects, officers believe somebody knows what the teenager’s last movements were.

She said: “It’s still a live investigation and we still regularly receive intelligence. We’re currently reviewing all lines of investigation just to see if something has been missed or if there’s something that someone can pick up to give us a new line of inquiry.”

Asked about the latest development in the case, DS Gallagher said: “The last development was 2016 when we did some searches in Kettering. We had some intelligence and we did some digs.

“We did find a gun but we’ve been unable to link that weapon to the crime scene.”

Asked if she feared the case would go unsolved, DS Gallagher

said: “I really, really hope it doesn’t. I’ve been working on the case for seven years. I don’t intend to go anywhere and I actively work on it every day.

“I really think there is a chance we can find Sarah, but we do need the people, certainly in Kettering, to work with us, because somebody knows what her last movements were and they just need to talk to us.”

Addressing what the motive could be behind the schoolgirl’s disappearance, DS Gallagher said: “Sarah had only just recently turned 14 when she went missing, she was a child.

“I don’t know what anybody’s motive could be to murder anybody, certainly not a child.

“Whether something has gone wrong, whether she has been caught up in the middle of something, either way, somebody must know because we haven’t found her body so somebody is involved.”