Father of missing girl tells of last phone call

The father of a 13-year-old girl who went missing as she walked home last week described yesterday how she sounded her normal happy self when he spoke to her on the telephone shortly before she disappeared.

Amanda Dowler called her father, Robert, on her mobile phone to say she would be home in half an hour as she set off from Walton-on-Thames railway station in Surrey.

She had stopped at the station's café for a snack with friends after leaving Heathside School in Weybridge and was last seen starting the mile-long walk to her home in Walton Park, near Hersham.

Mr Dowler, a 50-year-old IT consultant, said Amanda, who was known as Milly, rang because the family had a rule that she or her sister should always call if they were going to be late.

"She sounded fine. She told me where she was, who she was with and said she was going to be home in half an hour. I said that was fine. It was a perfectly normal conversation."

Mr Dowler urged anyone with any information to get in touch with police. He said it was his wife's birthday this week and "it would be the best present in the world if we got Milly home safe".

Sally Dowler, 42, a teacher, fought back tears when she was asked if the family was still hopeful that Amanda was alive. "We just desperately hope she is," Mrs Dowler said. "It's the only thing that keeps us going, to think that she's out there and that we're going to get her back."

Speaking at a press conference at Staines police station, Mr and Mrs Dowler said they were "numb with worry" about their daughter, who was a happy teenager with a lively interest in music. She had been to see a Pop Idols concert in London two days before she disappeared on Thursday. Mr Dowler said: "We couldn't wish for a lovelier daughter. She's got a great sense of fun, she plays the saxophone and is very musical. We bought her a karaoke machine for Christmas. She's always dancing and singing in the sitting room."

Amanda, who does not have a boyfriend, had no money on her to pay for a train journey out of the area and has never gone missing before.

Police said she normally took the train one stop further to Hersham, but it was not unusual for her to get off at Walton-on-Thames.

Amanda's best friend, Cara Dawson, 13, who travelled on the train with her on Thursday, said Amanda loved singing and was due to play the part of one of the All Saints pop group at a school "Stars in their Eyes" concert.

Cara said: "When I found out Milly was missing, it felt like a bad dream. I just want to wake up now. One minute we were laughing, joking and singing as normal and the next she is gone and no one can find her."

The police search, involving 100 officers, dogs and a helicopter, has so far concentrated on the route Amanda would take home from the railway station.

Trees and telephone boxes along the route have been covered with posters appealing for information and neighbours have put the posters in their car windows.

Shallow sections of the river Mole in Hersham have been searched by police, and volunteers were searching a field near Walton railway station.

Will Young, the Pop Idol winner, joined the appeal yesterday, urging Amanda to go home or contact her family. Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Gibson, of Surrey Police, said Amanda had been planning to attend a local music event with friends on Friday night.

Officers attended the concert but there was no sign of the teenager. "We will maintain constant police activity until such time as we find her. We're following all lines of inquiry and keeping an open mind," he said.