GREAT BRITAIN • Serena BEAKHURST, 14 ~ London

THE FAMILY of a missing 14-year-old girl are appealing for the public's help in finding her.
Serena Beakhurst was last seen in the Tulse
Hill area of south London on December 15 after leaving her home address
to attend a course at 9am - she hasn't been seen since.



The teen, who had just started attending a training school in Tooting, is 5ft 3ins tall and of medium build.
She is described as mixed race with light
skin tone and has shoulder-length black hair. She was wearing a black
leather jacket with a gold zip on the day of her disappearance.
Serena's cousin, James Andrew told Voice
Online that his family is "desperate" for former Battersea Technology
School student to get in touch.
He said: “Anyone with the slightest bit of information about the whereabouts of Serena are urged to get in touch
“She has been missing for eight days now and we are desperate to know that she is safe.”
He added: “Serena, we love you, miss you and
really want you to get in touch. We’re not angry, or upset with you, we
just want you home! Please call us!”
Anyone with information is asked to contact
the Lambeth Missing Persons Unit on 020 8649 3423 or 0300 123 1212
quoting ref: 10MIS049123

THE HUNT for missing teenager Serena Beakhurst received a welcome
boost over the bank holiday weekend when celebrities joined the online
campaign for her safe return.
Prominent Britons such as footballer Rio
Ferdinand, actor Stephen Fry and Sarah Brown, the wife of former Prime
Minister Gordon Brown joined the campaign, first launched on Voice
Online, to find the missing 14-year-old.
Mrs Brown tweeted: "Wouldn't it be great if Twitter could help find missing Serena Beakhurst?"
One of the first media organisations to
report the case, Voice online was referenced when stars lent their
support to the search.
Actor Stephen Fry, who boasts over two million followers, wrote: “'Missing Serena Beakhurst since 15dec.'”
The 14-year-old disappeared on December 15
after attending a college course in south London, but her story has only
just received mainstream coverage despite her family campaigning for more than two weeks.
On December 23 and again on December 29,
Voice Online publicised Serena’s family’s anger at the lack of media
coverage over the disappearance of the former Battersea Technology College student.
At the time, there were also claims that the
police had stalled reporting on the case by telling reporters that
Serena was a ‘runaway’ and not a missing child.
Leah Longoria, a member of the Facebook
group ‘Missing Serena Beakhurst’ also alleged that Serena’s race had
also played a factor in the slow response to her disappearance. She
wrote: "Serena's community feels that there is a distinct lack of care
and attention by police, and a solidly disproportionate level of
policing given to this missing child than that we have seen in the past
for others who do not hail from urban, mixed-race families."
The Metropolitan Police strongly refuted both claims.
A Met spokesperson told Voice Online: “I
don’t know where this term ‘runaway’ has come from. We’ve looked at the
statements we’ve sent out and that’s not a word we would use for a
missing person, and it hasn’t been used by us. The Lambeth press officer
contacted me this morning (Dec 29) and said that several emails had
come in saying this, and she has responded to people saying that is not a
term that we’ve used in any of our press statements.”
Serena, from Tulse Hill, south London, is
described as mixed-race with light skin tone and has shoulder-length
black hair. She was wearing a black leather jacket with a gold zip on
the day of her disappearance.
* Anyone with information is being asked to
contact the Lambeth Missing Persons Unit on 020 8649 3423 or 0300 123
1212 quoting ref: 10MIS049123.

Twitter plea girl found by police
– 43 minutes ago


Serena Beakhurst was found in the Wandsworth area of south London

A missing teenager whose plight was highlighted by a clutch of celebrities on Twitter has been found by police.

Serena Beakhurst, 14, was located in the Wandsworth area of south London, the Metropolitan Police said. She was said to be well.

The girl vanished three weeks ago, and the likes of Stephen Fry, footballer Rio Ferdinand and Sarah Brown - wife of ex-prime minister Gordon Brown - all posted links to appeals for information about her.

A spokesman for the Met Police said: "Serena was found in the early hours of Wednesday in Wandsworth. Officers will be speaking to her in due course."

Serena, who also goes by the surname Dennis, disappeared on December 15 after catching a bus from Herne Hill station to attend her beauty therapy college course in south London.

She had never been reported missing previously.

On Monday, the Met Police said it had "exhausted normal lines of inquiry" and urged anyone with information to get in touch.

On Tuesday officers revealed they were about to re-interview the teenager's friends and had received reported sightings of her over Christmas.

As well as the famous trio backing the appeal to find Serena, who lives in Tulse Hill, other celebrity Twitter users to re-tweet messages included actor and writer Simon Pegg and Little Britain's Matt Lucas.

Friends of the teenager reportedly accused police of a lack of care and attention in their hunt. A Facebook group - Help Find Serena Beakhurst - was also set up to publicise her disappearance.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jR0oposUw8lRRUi9brb0oKI9QU8w?docId=N0461361294200957872A