HOME ALONE FOR 12 HOURS

The hunt follows a dramatic 999 call to Sussex Police from a five-year-old girl using a mobile phone left in the house.

The youngster gave her name as Katie Louise and said she was locked in the house with her three-year-old sister Kelly who needed her nappy changing and could be heard crying in the background.

A police controller spoke to the girl for more than an hour but officers have not been able to pinpoint the house.

At one stage police cars slowly cruised streets in an area of Chichester where the girls are believed to live in the hope they would be able to attract the officers' attention from the windows.

Since the call, at 7.30pm on Sunday October 3, officers from the Child Protection Unit have called the mobile phone five times and spoken to the mother, who told them her name was Mandy Smith and she was 29.

Locked

But each time she has cut them off, refusing to give her full identity or where she lives.

At one stage she agreed to visit Chichester police station but did not turn up for her appointment.

Now officers have reluctantly gone public in a bid to persuade the mother to come forward or for her family and friends to give them a name and address.

Police say they badly need to check the

welfare of the two

children.

Katie Louise told the police operator she and her sister had been locked in their home since breakfast after their mother told them she was going to the pub.

Det Con Mike Strangeway, in charge of the case, said: "The girl said the mother had left the mobile phone with them so she could ring and see if they were all right but she had not called.

"At about 10.20pm the mother came home and spoke to the controller. She said her name was Mandy but gave a false address and said she had been to see her ex-husband, whose name was Paul.

"We are hoping that publicity will help to trace her because our primary concern and that of the social

services is the welfare of the children.

"It may be that Mandy is also in need of support and help. Although she said she was 29, this cannot be confirmed."

Det Con Strangeway said Katie Louise

told the controller she could see trains from her bedroom window and lived near a

corner shop run by a foreign man. She also said she went to a playschool and her teacher was a 'Mrs Maybecker', but police and social services have failed to identify a teacher of that name.

Police have also been unable to trace Mandy through

the pay-as-you-speak mobile phone, which was bought at an Asda store in Castleford in the north of England. A woman calling herself Sarah answered the phone during some calls and passed it to Mandy.

Other clues they are hoping will identify the mother include Katie Louise's mention of a next-door neighbour called Irene or Eileen who she said bought her chocolate. She also spoke of being taken to a chip shop opposite Chichester station saying it was near her home.

Police also believe she

lives in a house or flat with the

number 3 in the address.

Det Con Strangeway says the call was not a hoax and the mother and girls are thought to live close to the railway station and canal basin of Chichester.

Clues

He said: "I have listened to the tape twice to see what clues we can gather and this was a sweet little kid and it is very sad when you hear her voice.

"Katie Louise said she had only recently moved to Chichester from Bognor.

"We have now lost contact with Mandy because the phone appears to have been disconnected."

Det Con Strangeway promised all information would be handled in strict confidence.

Anyone with information can contact Det Con Strangeway on 0845 60 70 999 or social services on 01243 752999.

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