The 17-day hunt for Sarah Payne has sparked a massive nationwide hunt.

Here is a day-by-day account of the operation to date.

DAY 1: Saturday, July 1. At 7pm Sarah goes with her sister and two brothers to play in a wheat field 150 metres from her grandparents' home in West Kingston. Sarah leaves to return alone. Her 13-year-old brother, Lee, follows, but loses sight of her. He sees a white van and a silver Ford Mondeo just after Sarah disappears. She is reported missing at 9.30pm.

DAY 2: July 2. A full-scale search is launched involving 300 people - police with sniffer dogs, divers, soldiers and volunteers - and 150 officers are assigned to Operation Maple. In Cheshire, 250 miles away, a woman helps a "distressed" girl matching Sarah's description and answering to her name in a motorway service station toilet at Knutsford on the M6. In the evening a man in his forties is arrested in Littlehampton and a white van is towed away.

DAY 3: July 3. A man in his thirties from the Crawley area is arrested. Sarah's parents appeal for help finding their "little princess".

DAY 4: July 4. Police continue to question the two men. Sarah's parents make a TV appeal. The Argus offers £5,000 for information leading to her safe return.

DAY 5: July 5. Sarah's brother, Lee, takes part in an identity parade involving the man in his forties. Police later release both men on bail.

DAY 6: July 6. Police reveal that another girl escaped abduction in the area on the same day Sarah disappeared.

DAY 7: July 7. A reconstruction of Sarah's last known movements is filmed.

DAY 8: July 8. A fresh appeal is made by Sarah's grandfather, Terry.

DAY 9: July 9. The Paynes visit Littlehampton police station to thank officers.

DAY 10: July 10. Plans to study CCTV footage of the man seen with a girl on the M6 in Cheshire are dashed because security cameras were not working.

DAY 11: July 11. A 14-year-old boy is arrested after police are given a hoax tip-off.

DAY 12: July 12. Police investigate a possible second sighting of Sarah at a service station off the A80 near Glasgow after they release a computer-generated picture of the man seen at Knutsford.

DAY 13: July 13. Police believe a modified white Transit van could hold the key to her disappearance.

DAY 14: July 14. Police say they are treating the disappearance as an abduction.

DAY 15: July 15. Sarah's parents say she was told about Stranger Danger at school.

DAY 16: July 16. Police call for more information.

DAY 17: Monday, July 17. The discovery of an unidentified young girl's body in a field off the A29, near Pulborough, is reported by a member of the public at 11.30am.