WON SO FAR
BGT choir appeal sparks new tip-off over mum, 17
POLICE are digging up graves in the hunt for a missing mum days after her photo was shown during a Britain’s Got Talent appeal.
Natalie Putt was last seen aged 17 after popping to the shops in 2003.
Officers acting on a new tip-off have been directed to a cemetery just half a mile from where she vanished. Natalie’s photo appeared during the Missing People Choir’s performance on BGT.
Half-sister Rebecca Coggins, 46, said the talent show “seemed to have sparked interest in the case”.
Her sisters Becki and Lowri last night said they were surrounded by pictures of Natalie and had lit a “candle of hope”.
They said: “To hear of the news and events regarding Natalie’s disappearance is absolutely devastating to all of the family.
“We are obviously very upset about the developments and as such would ask that our family is left in peace until such time that we hear of definitive news from the police.
“In the near 14 years that Natalie has been ® missing, we have never given up hope of finding her safe and well. Until we know anything to the contrary, this remains the case.” Exhuming the graves in Dudley, West Mids, is expected to take several days. But police have launched a murder probe and Supt Tom Chisholm said: “We are interested in four graves. New intelligence and surveys of the area have led us here. This is a distressing time for the family.” He also praised the Missing People Choir, a group made up of families hunting for loved ones, that finished eighth in Saturday’s final. “It is fortuitous, I’m aware it [the photo] was on there,” Supt Chisholm said. “It did the same thing we are trying to do, raise awareness and help us appeal for fresh information.” Natalie left behind her 11-week-old son Rhys, who is now 13 and living with his dad Kevin McCallum. He said: “Police had told us about the dig. It’s been very difficult for Rhys as you can imagine. Her son has been put through enough and he just wants to be kept out of the spotlight.”