After the horrific deaths of Holly Chapman and Jessica Wells, politicians in Sussex are turning to a scheme in the United States which they say could prevent future abductions.

WITHIN hours of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells being declared missing, an entire community had taken to the streets, desperate to play a part in finding the pair safe and well.

At first nobody dared utter the suggestion the girls may be dead.

However, the people who put their lives on hold to join in with the search knew it was a possibility.

As panic slowly began to sweep Britain following the last sighting of the girls, details of an almost identical drama were being released hundreds of miles away in the US.

Tamara Brooks, 16, and Jacqueline Marris, 17, had been snatched at gunpoint in California days before Holly and Jessica disappeared.

Fortunately, Tamara and Jacqueline survived their ordeal unlike Holly and Jessica.

The success of the Tamara and Jacqueline rescue mission has been attributed in part to a revolutionary new system called Amber Alert.

The scheme is currently in operation in 15 states in America and is something councillors and MPs in Sussex are keen to see implemented over here.

Amber stands for America's Missing Broadcast Emergency Response, a programme started in Texas after the 1996 kidnapping and murder of nine-year-old girl Amber Hagerman.

The system means that as soon as a child is declared missing, television programmes are interrupted by news flashes and messages are beamed on to freeway signs, alerting the public to the incident.

A hotline number is publicised in an effort to enlist the help of the public in getting youngsters home safely. In the California case, a vehicle registration number was made known within hours of their disappearance.

The pair were found 12 hours later, abused and emotionally scarred, but otherwise safe. Their abductor, Roy Ratliff, was shot dead by police.

Hearing about the success of the Amber Alert scheme has prompted Adur Tory councillor Mike Mendoza to take action.

On Wednesday night, Adur District Council's ruling Conservative group voted in favour of supporting a motion at the next council meeting, calling for a campaign for its introduction here.

Coun Mendoza said: "The public are always horrified when children like Jessica and Holly are abducted.

"But, after the initial uproar, people soon forget that something needs to be done. That is why I think we should use this tragedy to create something positive.

"It is easy to be accused of a knee-jerk reaction but why should we wait for another child to be murdered before this issue is addressed again?"

He is calling on all MPs in Sussex to press the Government to implement an Amber Alert-type scheme in the UK.

Chief Superintendent Jeremy Paine, of Sussex Police, says the scheme sounds promising.

"When a child is abducted it is a race against time to find them before it is too late. The key is to get information out to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible and that is something Amber Alert would help achieve.

"I think it is something that should certainly be considered. As a force we have learnt a great deal from dealing with cases such as Sarah Payne but one of the most valuable lessons has been the importance of organising a co-ordinated response, quickly."

The efforts of local people in the hunt for eight-year-old Sarah, who was kidnapped and murdered by Roy Whiting, led to the UK's first permanent database of volunteers who can help police searches.

The project, called the Neighbourhood Watch Search Team, is yet another example of the lengths communities will go to to help protect their children. But some say it is simply not enough.

Amber Alert was implemented in California on July 24 following the abduction and murder of five-year-old Samantha Runnion.

The case put the issue of child safety on the political agenda, with Californian Assemblyman George Runner championing a bill to make the use of Amber Alerts mandatory in all child abduction cases.

Since then, there have been eight cases involving 11 children and all 11 have been returned home safely. Many were snatched by their non-custodial parents but others who were not so lucky were taken by strangers for no apparent reason.

Worthing East and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton thinks similar political pressure needs to be exerted on the Government.

He hopes to lay down a motion when Parliament is recalled next month in an attempt to gain cross-party support for UK Amber Alerts.

He said: "We should get away from the lynch-mob mentality and try to make something positive out of what happened in Soham.

"I would like to see a pilot scheme set up in the UK to see how feasible Amber Alert would be here."