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Fears for a British teenager are growing tonight after CCTV footage emerged of her being followed by at least one man before she disappeared.

Pretty Hannah Graham, thought by parents to be a victim of “foul play”, went missing in the Old Town area of Charlottesville, Virginia, where she is studying at university during the early hours of Saturday morning.

The 18-year-old, originally from Reading, texted her friends at 1.20am to say she was heading to meet them at a party but never arrived.

Police have searched a wide area east of the University of Virginia campus where she attended with bloodhounds but so far have failed to find any sign of the teenager without success.

(Image: Reuters)

Her parents fear she is has been abducted as police found surveillance videos showing the teenager walking past a pub, running past a service station, and running by a shopping centre.

“Hannah is beyond precious to us, and we are devastated by her disappearance,” her parents, John and Susan Graham, who emigrated to the States around 2000, said.

“It is totally out of character for us not to have heard from her, and we fear foul play.”

Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said police didn’t have “any substantial evidence” supporting fears of foul play, despite several videos of her.

Hannah is the fifth woman to have vanished in the area since 2009.

Investigators are trying to track a man seen near her before her disappearance.

(Image: Charlottesville Police Department)

Footage taken from two separate CCTV cameras show a white male following the teenager through a shopping area shortly after 1am.

In the first clip he is seen appearing to hide in a doorway looking at Hannah as she walks past.

He is later seen walking behind her. However he has since come forward to claim he saw another man tailing her and at one point putting an arm around her.

The man, who has not been identified, told cops he had followed Hannah as she appeared “physically distressed” and wanted to make sure she was safe.

The second man, who has been described as black, is not captured in any of the video footage but the witness said he appeared to know the Brit.

Police later issued a statement saying: “At 10:15 pm the unidentified white male in the videos came to the police department.

“He told police that he was following Ms. Graham as she looked to be somewhat physically distressed and he wanted to make sure she got safely to wherever she was going.

“Soon after he was following her, he said that a black male came up to her and put his arm around her, stopping her.

“Ms. Graham and this black male started speaking and it appeared to the witness that the black male was either known to Ms. Graham or was trying to help her.

‘The witness then walked away and he said that Ms. Graham and the black male were still standing and talking when he left.

“The black male is not shown in either of these videos.”

In video released of Hannah she can be seen wearing a cropped top and trousers, appear to stagger out outside McGrady’s Irish bar in the city.