Police make national appeal in search for Georgia Williams

Georgia Williams, 17, was last seen when she left her family’s home in Wellington at 7.30pm on Sunday evening when she is thought to have made arrangements to contact the arrested man, who is a friend of hers. She was reported missing by her parents on Tuesday afternoon.

Police believe that Georgia may have been travelling with a 22-year-old man who was known to her and also from the Wellington area. He was arrested this morning in a Glasgow hotel, on suspicion of kidnap.

Detectives who have launched a kidnap investigation are appealing for sightings of her and also a silver Toyota Hiace 300 GS panel van which she may have travelled in.

The van, registration CX06 ASV, was being driven by a 22-year-old Telford man who was arrested early this morning in Glasgow on suspicion of kidnapping 17-year-old Georgia. He is still being questioned in Scotland. The arrest took place at a hotel in Glasgow city centre and the van was recovered in a nearby car park off Dunblane Street.

Georgia, who is white, 5ft 3ins, slim and with long, dyed, red hair was last seen wearing a waist length black leather jacket over a white T-shirt which has a London bus motif on it. She was also wearing black, skinny jeans and flat, black suede slip-on shoes.

Telford and Wrekin Commander, Superintendent Nav Malik, said today: “We are extremely concerned for Georgia’s welfare and there are fears that she may have come to harm. She has not gone missing before and this is completely out of character for her. It is vital that we speak to anyone who may have seen her or had any form of contact with her since 7.30pm on Monday.

“If she is reading this I would stress that she is not in any kind of trouble and we just want her to let us know she is okay.

“The man we have arrested was driving a van which we know took a route from Wellington to Oswestry in Shropshire before moving on to Chester, Rhyll in North Wales, Kendal in Cumbria and then Glasgow on Tuesday afternoon.

“At this time we do not know if Georgia was in the van and we are continuing to study CCTV pictures along the route. However urgently need people to come forward if they saw the vehicle or anyone using it.

“The smallest piece of information could be vital to our enquiries so if you know anything at all then please pick up the phone without delay and contact our incident room on 0800 056 0944.

Supt Malik said that police were liaising with and providing support for Georgia’s family who he said were naturally devastated by their daughter’s disappearance and just wanted her back home safe. Georgia’s father is a serving officer with West Mercia Police.

The superintendent described Georgia as a hard-working girl from a solid and strong family background.

Around 50 detectives from West Mercia Police and Warwickshire Police forces are working on the investigation, which is based at Malinsgate Police Station in Telford, and further 20-30 officers are involved in searches locally and in Glasgow. Enquiry teams have been going door to door in Wellington and high visibility patrols are also being made in the town to provide extra reassurance.

Supt Malik said: “We are grateful for the help we are receiving from other forces, notably the Scottish police, and I can assure everyone that no resource is being spared in the search for Georgia.

“We will do everything in our power to find her but we do need people to come forward with information so that we can build up a more detailed picture of her movements.”

Anyone who does not want to speak to the police but wants to pass on details indirectly can contact independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.