Police are searching through the night for two 10-year-old girls who have been missing from their Cambridgeshire homes for more than 24 hours.

The intensification of the search follows an earlier appeal by the girls' parents for help in finding them.

Best friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both from Soham near Cambridge, were last seen at about 1830 BST on Sunday.

Officers will continue searching through the night

Cambridgeshire police spokesman

On Monday evening about 500 members of the public, including the girls' parents, joined police in searching the area around their homes, but without success.

Cambridgeshire police were supported by officers from neighbouring Suffolk and Essex forces, and aided by specially trained sniffer dogs.

"Officers will continue searching through the night," said a police spokesman.

"But we will not be asking the public to help during the hours of darkness."

The girls' parents, Sharon and Leslie Chapman and Nicola and Kevin Wells, appeared at a news conference on Monday.

"Come home. All is forgiven," said Mr Chapman after being asked if he had a message for his daughter.

Click here to see the girls' movements

He said: "She is pretty intelligent. She knows how to use the phone.

"It is just a complete mystery as to why she has not phoned. It is so out of character."

Mrs Chapman said: "She is not streetwise but she is not stupid."

Police hotline

01480 422982

Mr Wells said: "They have been friends for a long time - it is out of character for them to do this.

"I would not think they were frightened to come home.

"They were in and out playing. We were having a family barbecue And when we went to check on them they weren't there.".

Sweet shop

He said the girls might have left the house to buy "confectionery".

"That's something they would do normally. The sweet shop is in the direction of where they were heading," said Mr Wells.

"They would have pocket money. Holly would have �3 a week."

Sharon Chapman made an appeal to the press

Inspector Simon Causer, from Cambridgeshire Police, said: "We are extremely concerned.

"It is very unusual for them to go off without telling their parents where they are going to be.

"There appears to be no reason why either girl would go off and both parents are extremely worried."

Both girls had spent the day playing together and had returned to Holly's home in the late afternoon.

Mr Causer said: "Since then we have found a member of the public who saw them walking along Sand Street at about 1830 BST.

Mobile phone

"They are both small and slightly built and they are both wearing Manchester United football shirts."

Police say that Jessica had a mobile phone with her when she went missing and engineers have traced it to an area of Cambridgeshire surrounding Soham.

Jessica Chapman and her dog Toby

"Attempts have been made to ring the mobile but we believe that the battery is dead or the credits have run out," said a police spokesperson.

"Tests were carried out to try and locate it but it showed up only in a very large area of Cambridgeshire which was so inexact as to be of little use."

Both girls are described as being white, about 4ft 6in tall and slim. Jessica is tanned and has shoulder-length brown hair while Holly is fair and has blonde hair.

Mr Causer said: "Obviously we are in the Fens and water is never very far away so that is something we are concerned about."

Police said both girls have access to the internet and are checking computers to see whether the girls could have been in contact with someone by e-mail or may have used chat rooms.

They are also checking mobile phone records and establishing the whereabouts of known sex offenders.

Police have issued a dedicated telephone hotline for the public to call if anyone has any information about the two girls - 01480 422982.

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