A Sussex mother has taken her quest to find her daughter to the heart of Spain.

Anne-Marie Kingshott believes five-year-old Danielle Dempster has been taken there and has appealed for English ex-pats to be on the lookout.

She made her heartfelt appeal through the pages of El Sun, an English newspaper whose reporters picked up on previous stories in The Argus.

Miss Kingshott, 24, of Cavalry Crescent, Eastbourne, said: "There is not a day goes by that I don't wake up and think of Danielle.

"Sometimes I dream of her and I wake up and expect her to be there, then reality hits me and I feel lost and empty."

Danielle disappeared with her father, John Dempster, his parents and brother from the family home in Greenleaf Gardens, Polegate, in January last year.

Miss Kingshott was lured to Croydon before returning home to find the house she had shared with her then-partner Mr Dempster and his family empty.

Furniture, clothes, toys and photographs had all been cleared and the family's mobile home had gone.

Miss Kingshott now believes a holiday travelling around Spain may have given her ex-partner the idea of returning there.

She said: "Suddenly it all made sense. The year before we had travelled in the family's camper van through France to Spain.

"John had fallen in love with many of the areas we had visited.

"From France we had travelled through Catalunya, then on to the Costa Blanca.

"Eventually we headed for the Costa del Sol, where we stayed in Nerja, Fuengirola, Torremolinos, and Marbella.

"Danielle could be in any of these places."

The little girl has been made the subject of a search-and-collect court order which means she should be returned to this country and to Miss Kingshott.

Her family has hired a private detective in a desperate bid to track her down.

Miss Kingshott has never given up hope of seeing her daughter and a stack of unopened Christmas and birthday presents await the youngster's return.

Tragedy struck the family for a second time earlier this year when Miss Kingshott's father died of cancer.