Daily Express

Police urge calm over body of girl found in woods

- By

John Twomey

POLICE yesterday urged the family and friends of teenager Louise Smith to be patient and not jump to conclusion­s as they try to find out exactly how she died.

The body of Louise, 16, was found in a wood on Thursday, two weeks after she popped out during VE Day celebratio­ns and never returned.

Louise vanished at about noon on Friday, May 8, after telling friends she was going out briefly.

She was last seen

Metro store that day.

Louise’s mobile phone is understood to have been traced to a skate park before it was switched off about two hours later.

The teenager was expected home shortly because her boyfriend had come over and they were planning to spend the weekend together.

People throughout the area were holding lockdown celebratio­ns during near

aTesco the 75th anniversar­y of VE Day and police have said their mobile phone footage could play a crucial role in their investigat­ion.

A man and a woman aged 29 were arrested on suspicion of kidnap and later bailed.

Louise’s body was found in Havant Thicket in Hampshire, a beauty spot

The body of Louise, right, was found at Havant Thicket two weeks after she went missing. Police, left, at the scene

about two miles away. The discovery came hours after police released previously unseen CCTV footage from the Tesco store in the Leigh Park area of Havant at about 7.30pm the day before she went missing.

As post-mortem tests and formal identifica­tion of Louise’s body were being carried out, Detective Chief

Superinten­dent Scott Mackechnie of Hampshire Police said: “We will be working around the clock to establish what has happened.

“We’re asking the community not to speculate on the circumstan­ces, and instead provide all informatio­n to the police in the first instance as this is crucial to helping our inquiries.” other men who were arrested on Monday have been released pending enquiries. A number of other people are still in police custody.

Aya, 19, was walking past the car wash in Blackburn last Sunday afternoon when she was hit by a stray bullet.

Police said she was not the intended target.

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