Arrest made 38 years after girl vanished at army base

MILITARY police have made an arrest in the case of a toddler who disappeared almost four decades ago.

Katrice Lee vanished without trace on her second birthday in 1981 from Paderborn, Germany, where her father Richard was serving with the British Army.

Her family have clung to the hope that she is still alive.

Following a breakthrough in the case, a forensic team from the Royal Military Police have searched a property in Swindon, Wilts, and dug up the garden.

No details on the link between the house and the disappearance have been released, but officers said yesterday one person had been arrested.

Last night, Mr Lee, now 69, said he hoped the family would finally find out the truth. ‘We’ve been to hell and back over the past 38 years,’ he told the Mirror. ‘We want a happy ending but that might not be the case and we just hope that we will get answers.’

Katrice, pictured, of Hartlepool, disappeared from a barracks Naafi supermarket when her father was stationed nearby with the 15/19 King’s Royal Hussars. The store was very busy on the last payday before Christmas and Katrice’s mother, Sharon Lee, had carried her around the shop.

Mrs Lee put her down at the checkout to fetch a forgotten item and asked Katrice’s aunt, Wendy, to watch her.

When Mrs Lee returned less than a minute later the little girl had gone. The aunt thought she had followed her mother back into the shopping aisles.

Probes by military and German police at the time were criticised by the family for a presumption that Katrice had drowned in a nearby river. Katrice’s mother, 66, and father are divorced but the family continue to campaign for her to be found.

An Army spokesman said: ‘We can confirm that an arrest was made on September 23 by the Royal Military Police in connection with the disappearance of Katrice Lee in 1981.

‘As this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment further at this stage.’