Missing child report was a teen’s hoax

POLICE swooped on Newcastle’s Northumberland Street in a desperate hunt for a missing child which it turned out to be a hoax.

Officers, cars and a riot van were spotted in a search which lasted for over an hour, before investigators confirmed the report of a lost toddler were false.

Initially, shoppers thought there might have been a bomb scare due to presence of emergency services - and then began to worry about the “missing child”.

Emergency updates were sent to businesses in Eldon Square, telling staff to look out for a 13-month-old girl in a pink top.

But a teenager who had claimed to have become separated from her young sister was found to have never been accompanied by a child.

One mum, who had been in the city centre when the search began and felt compelled to help look, was shocked when she found out the stress had been for nothing.

She said: “I felt physically sick for the little girl and I felt I couldn’t leave until she was found.

“I have just had to explain to my two little girls that some big girl made it all up.

“I’m now feeling annoyed that someone would make up such a story and to waste everybody’s time.

“Why anyone would lie about it is beyond me - the amount of people who panic thinking such a small child is in danger, only to find out it’s false.”

One shopper said: “I think it is terrible, especially when a child is concerned.”