THE distraught father of 14-year-old Emily Carrigan has pleaded with his daughter to come home.

Solicitor Steven Carrigan, 43, looking dishevelled and often close to tears, described how Emily ran away after an argument.

She secretly slipped out of the family home in Smugglers Walk, Worthing, on Sunday evening.

The night before they had rowed about Emily playing truant from Davison High School in Worthing.

Her grandmother, Agnes, had discovered two sick notes Emily had forged allowing her to miss school.

Mr Carrigan, a litigation solicitor at the Worthing legal firm Lings, confronted her with the notes and the two argued.

He said: "I was very cross, but I bitterly regret that now. It was understandable for me to be upset, but if I had known then the consequences that have followed I would not have said a word.

"I would fall apart if I was not holding myself together to try to do what is necessary to find her."

roblems

The two also rowed about other, "more serious" matters and Emily told her father she was taking time off school because she was having problems with other girls there.

Mr Carrigan says he was also angry about a relationship she was having with an older boy she had met at Worthing's Q Club.

The pretty blonde, who looks older than her years and had a forged ID pass stating she was 18, went missing at about 8pm.

Emily lives with her father and brother, Piers, 11, and Mr Carrigan's parents, Agnes and Joseph.

Mr Carrigan said: "My parents are so upset they have been reduced to a state of virtual hysteria."

Emily's parents are divorced and her mother has remarried, but police officers say Emily has not gone to stay with her.

Since her disappearance her friends have told police about a second older boyfriend she had called Mark, whom her father didn't know about.

PC Chris Saunders said: "We don't know a lot about Mark. He comes from the Chichester area and it's possible he's housing Emily.

"We would just like to know that she's well and safe."

Mr Carrigan said: "Mark should have no fear about coming forward if he knows where Emily is.

"If he has any interest in her welfare then he should call the police immediately."

He said: "Since Sunday I have only allowed myself to sleep for a couple of hours, but for whatever reason I slept in Emily's room last night.

"I just want her to come back, and if she doesn't want to then she can call the Samaritans or the police or anyone who can call me and tell me she's living and breathing."

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