'Can't believe a guy just followed us': Disturbing tweets reveal how missing student Megan and her friend were followed by 'a creepy guy' just days before she vanished during night out



Megan Roberts, 20, was last seen at 2am on Thursday in Popworld bar

Police told on Sunday because friends thought she was staying at home



Officers have launched search as disappearance 'very out of character'

CCTV shows her with friends at 2.10am, but absent ten minutes later



A friend had tweeted about them being stalked in a bar days earlier

Claudia Lawrence, 20, went missing a mile away in York in March 2009

Chef was likely murdered and her father made public appeal to find Megan

Teams in boats are searching the Ouse close to bridge where she was seen



Missing student Megan Roberts, who vanished on a night out, had been targeted by a stalker, it emerged yesterday.

Six days before her disappearance, Megan, 20, and a friend tweeted about a ‘creepy guy’ who followed them from bar to bar.

Her companion even wrote in jest: ‘Probably gonna get murdered tonight.’

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Search: Police are hunting York for Megan Roberts who has been missing since last Thursday morning after a night out in the city with friends

Megan Roberts, 20, was reported missing to police when a friend raised concerns that she had not seen her after a night out in York city centre

Pal Rockie Alanah Thorley wrote on Twitter about how the man approached them in a bar.

On January 16, a week before Megan vanished, Miss Thorley had tweeted about the pair being approached by a 'creepy' man in bar.

'Megan has gone to the toilet and this creepy guy keeps staring at me and winking, probably gonna get murdered tonight and it's only 8pm,' she wrote.

'Me and Megan got up to leave and creepy guy asked us where we were going, even though he hasn't spoken to us all night.... Ergh creep?'

I'm probably gonna get murdered

'Sat in a different pub and the creepy guy has just turned up and sat with us and said 'can't believe you here'. Wtf go away creep?



'He just told us he's from Shrilanka (sic) and nobody even asked.. We are not stupid girls so stop following us and go away before I hit you ffs? 'Megan told him our real names the maniac, this is so awkward he's hovering around us pls just go?

'I just said to Megan that my phone might die and the creepy guy just said 'I have 3 AA batteries if you like' wtf I can't cope with this? '

Police said Megan was last seen with a group of people shortly after leaving a nightclub in York.



HUNT FOR MEGAN: POLICE USE CCTV TO TRACE MISSING STUDENT

Thursday April 23, 2am : Megan Roberts left Popworld bar with friends and was seen walking along York's George Hudson St.

2.10am: CCTV footage shows Miss Roberts with a group of people on the corner of Rougier Street near Lendal Bridge.

2.20am: The group then moved to the other side of Lendal Bridge - but without Megan.

Officers are searching the bank of the River Ousein the city and are reviewing CCTV footage which shows the student with a group of friends on one side of the river at around 2.20am on Thursday morning, but absent from the group on the other side a short time later.

The footage shows Megan with a group of people on the corner of Rougier Street, on one side of the city's famous Lendal Bridge at 2.10am.

Police said today the friends were then seen on the other side of the swollen river at 2.20am - but Megan was not there.

Miss Thorley later wrote on Facebook that Megan's friends thought she had returned home to and did not immediately realise she was missing: ‘Her phone has been off since Wednesday night. We all assumed she went home for the weekend or went to see her ex and her phone had died.

‘When all her friends spoke last night and realised nobody had got in touch we became concerned as it is very out of character for her. So we contacted her mum.

‘She then didn’t turn up to her lecture this morning and we reported it. It’s been discovered that it is likely she didn’t go to her own house on Wednesday night.’



Officers are attempting to trace her movements after she was last seen on CCTV.

Police search the River Ouse in York as they look for missing student Megan Roberts

Police along the footpath on the banks of the river Ouse where Megan Roberts might have crossed on her way home

River Ouse: More than 30 officers are searching the water around the Lendal Bridge where the student was last seen last Thursday

Search for Megan: Specialist officers are using sonar in the River Ouse to help with their search

Specialist officers are searching the riverbank in the city centre and and an underwater search unit has been deployed, a force spokesman added.

Superintendent Phil Cain of North Yorkshire Police said: 'We currently have 2 dedicated search teams involved in the search, which is about 30 members of staff.'



He added there was no evidence to suggest the student, who has a younger brother and sister, was intoxicated when she went missing.

Megan’s most likely route to her home would have taken her across the bridge.



However, she might also have used a bridge 200 yards away – a shortcut that would have meant her walking on a river path lacking in barriers.

‘Our officers need to find out where she went after she was last seen on CCTV,’ said Mr Cain.



‘We have concern for Megan’s welfare and urge people to help establish her movements.

‘There is nothing to suggest any criminality is involved in Megan’s disappearance.’



Police inquiries suggest Megan did not use the Lendal Bridge. Officers are interviewing her friends again to try resolve where she went.

Night out: On the evening she vanished Megan was at the Popworld bar in York with her friends

Last sighting: At 2.10am CCTV footage shows Miss Roberts with a group of people on the corner of Rougier Street near Lendal Bridge, left. Ten minutes later they crossed to the other side, right, but Megan was gone



Her mother Jackie, a childminder who lives ten miles away in Wetherby, wrote on Facebook: ‘Anyone with any info please get in touch. We’re worried sick.’

'There is nothing suspicious to report of her disappearance at the moment,' he said.



'Megan's disappearance is extremely unlikely and thus adds to our concern.



'We are very concerned for her welfare and urge the public to come forward if they have any information on her whereabouts.'



Police have added that special family support teams are accompanying Miss Roberts' family.



'We've got family officers deployed with the mother, and we are also in touch with Megan's father,' said a spokesman.



'Megan's family have stated they just want her to come back safe and well.'

Mr Cain added: ‘Megan’s family are understandably very distressed by her disappearance and I would appeal for anyone who has any information at all about where she might be to get in touch with the police.’



He confirmed detectives were probing concerns expressed by Megan and her Miss Thorley on their night out on January 16.

Meanwhile t he father of a young chef who went missing in York five years ago has admitted he is desperate for Megan to be found.

Concern: Officers have launched an urgent search after the disappearance of Megan Roberts, 20, last week

Suspected killing: Police believe Claudia Lawrence was murdered in York and her father Peter has today sent his thoughts and prayers to Megan's family



Message: Days before she vanished Megan tweeted about being stalked by a man, but police are not treating her disappearance as suspicious

Concerns: Megan Roberts was last seen almost a week ago and friends have been calling her and texting but have heard nothing



Sighting: Megan left a bar at 2am and her last sighting on CCTV was on one side of the Lendal Bridge - but she was missing on the other

Miss Robert's disappearance after a night out with friends has been described as 'out of character'

The 20-year-old went missing just a mile from where Claudia Lawrence vanished in March 2009.

Police say Megan's disappearance is 'out of character' but have not linked it to the case of university chef Claudia, 35, who detectives believe was murdered.

She had returned home after finishing her shift at the University of York and spoke to both her father Peter Lawrence and mother Joan in separate phone conversations that evening.

However, she failed to turn up for her early morning shift the next day and was reported missing by her father on 20th March. She has never been seen or heard from since. Her rucksack containing her chef’s whites was missing from her house.



Last October a police forensic team returned to her house on Heworth Road, York, as part of a cold case review.

Her father, Mr Lawrence, 67, said: 'My thoughts and prayers are very much with the family and friends of Megan Roberts.

'The 100-plus hours between when she was last seen early last Thursday morning and the reporting today makes it very difficult for those looking for her, whether police, family or friends as the first few hours of being missing are critical.

'We hope that she, and any member of the public with information, will make contact if she can and that she will return safely to her family and friends as soon as she can.'

Friends became increasingly worried about Megan as the week went on and contacted her mother, who reported her missing early on Sunday morning.

The area where she was last seen is also close to the River Ouse, which has become fast-moving and swollen from recent heavy rains.

Police issued an alert on Sunday afternoon, with a spokesman saying it was ‘very out of character’ for the York St John University fine arts student to go missing and officers were ‘very concerned for her safety.’

Parent: Megan's mother Jackie (left) has said she is 'worried sick' and has urged anyone with information to come forward



Bereft: Friends like Allanah Thornley, left, are worried sick about Megan's whereabouts as fears grow for her safety

The 20-year-old from Wetherby is a student at York St John University, minutes away from where Claudia Lawrence went missing in March 2009

In October 2007 the body of university student Robert Davies, 20, was found in the River Ouse in York. The third year chemistry student was last seen nine days earlier in an intoxicated state outside a nightclub.

Inspector Andy Farrar said officers were looking at CCTV footage from the area to find sightings of Megan.

‘At the moment it is purely a missing from home enquiry, there is nothing to suggest anything else. We are in the early stages of the investigation.



'We are searching the local area in relation to the places where she lives and who she was out with.



'We are doing the preliminary investigation and speaking to the last people she saw.’

The student’s university friends contacted each other on Twitter on Sunday to discuss their concerns and ask each other if anyone had seen Megan.

One wrote about last Wednesday night: ‘I didn’t leave with her but she was with people when I left. I just don’t understand.’



A police spokesman said Megan was reported missing at 8.30am on Sunday. She said: ‘Police are appealing for anyone who has seen Megan since the early hours of Thursday morning or knows where she is now, to contact them urgently.

‘They are also appealing to Megan herself to contact her friends, family or the police to let them know she is safe.’

Megan worked as a barmaid at the Lamb & Lion Inn in York during the summer and its manager, Adam Heaslip, described her as ‘very polite, friendly and a good worker’.

