Missing sisters, aged eight and 11, FOUND after 14-year-old girl led police to derelict house where they had been on 'all night camping expedition' without telling parents

Liana and Teigan Boyd were last seen in Whitworth Park, Manchester on Sunday evening



When their mother went to collect them at 8pm they were gone

Greater Manchester Police tell MailOnline they were found at a house near their Moss Side home this morning

Officers stopped a 14-year-old who had also been reported missing in the street, who led them to a derelict home where the children had slept

Sources say that the girls had a 'secret sleepover'



Information: Police were desperately looking for missing girl Liana Boyd, pictured, and her younger sister Teigan, who have been found

Two young sisters who went missing overnight, sparking a huge police manhunt, were found when a police officer recognised and stopped another missing teenage girl in the street.

Liana Boyd, 11, and her little sister Teigan, eight, vanished without a trace from Whitworth Park, Rusholme, just a few hundred yards away from their parents' home in Manchester.

The alarm was raised when the girls' mother Annette Boyd went out to tell them it was bedtime only to find the youngsters - on the first week of their school holidays - were missing.



The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) helicopter joined the hunt for the sisters as officers conducted door-to-door inquiries in the area around the park.

They were eventually found 'safe and well' around 11.30am today after the missing teenage girl, aged 14, who had befriended the younger girls, led police to a nearby derelict house where the three of them were having a secret sleepover.

The sisters are now being interviewed about their movements in the 15 hours they were unaccounted for. The 14-year-old missing girl is also being questioned but is not under arrest.

The sisters are believed to have been playing hide and seek at Whitworth Park near their two up two down Victorian terrace when Ms Boyd called them for for bed.

When she couldn’t find them she searched the immediate neighbourhood before reporting the girls missing at about 10pm.

Police scrambled the force helicopter during the manhunt whilst officers carried out door to door inquiries and issued public appeals for help including through the social networking site Twitter.



Police said at 11.20am a constable came across a 14-year-old girl, who was also reported missing and believed to have been with the sisters. She then led officers to a house nearby where the girls were inside.



Worry: Annette Boyd, mother of 11-year-old Liana Boyd and eight-year-old Teigan Boyd, the two sisters who went missing last night after playing on Whitworth Park, speaking outside her home in Rusholme, Manchester

Missing: Liana Boyd, 11, and eight-year-old Teigan Boyd disappeared in Whitworth Park, pictured, in Manchester, at around 8pm on Sunday

Ms Boyd could not be contacted for comment. Chief Superintendent Rob Potts said: 'The most important thing is that the girls have been found safe and well.

'We understood that the sisters were with another missing girl, and officers were given descriptions of all three.

'I would like to praise the actions of the police officer involved, who acted quickly and noticed the girl matching the description.

'I would also like to thank the media for their assistance in publicising this appeal.

'Liana and Teigan are safe and well, along with the 14-year-old girl who was also missing.

'We are speaking to all three to fully establish what happened and will be continuing to work with partner agencies.'

Found: The sisters had gone to the popular park to play, but disappeared later yesterday evening

Search: Police started a huge manhunt including officers on bikes who scoured the area for the girls

Play area: Park: Liana Boyd and her little sister Teigan went to have fun in the park like dozens of children but they appear to have had a secret sleepover in a derelict building

One neighbour said: 'It's such a relief they have been found safe and well. When they hadn't turned up in the morning many of us feared the worst. The police had the helicopter out and they were a lot of police on the ground searching the area.

'It just looks as if they have wandered off with an older girl without telling their mum.'

Officers had said they were 'extremely concerned' for their safety as the pair were missing for more than 12 hours. The sisters left their home to play in Whitworth Park, which is close to Manchester Royal Infirmary, south of the city centre.

It is understood they were playing near the park gates where they could be seen by adults at the house. A short time later their mother went out to the park but was unable to find them and called 999.

Neighbours in the road, mainly occupied by students, described them as happy little girls who loved to play. Lisa Murgatroyd, 23, who is reading Middle Eastern Studies at Manchester University, said: 'I saw them only yesterday playing across the road.

Lost: The two sisters went missing from this house in Moss Side Manchester last night

'They seem confident little girls and always cheerful.'

Another student, who gave her name only as Debbie, said: 'They gave me a wave so I waved back.'



Nikolay Poyukov, 22, a business student at Salford University, said: 'They often play together in the street quite happily.



'I didn't realise they were missing but I could hear the police helicopter over the park all night.

