Alicia Eborne was last seen eight days ago, setting off for a bus

Alicia Eborne, 18, has not been seen since leaving her home in the hamlet of Corntown, near Plymouth, last Friday.

The 39-year-old man from Plymouth was arrested on Thursday evening, but on Saturday morning magistrates gave permission for him to be detained over the weekend.

He can now be held in custody until 2230 GMT on Sunday, before a decision has to be made on whether he is charged or released.

A 40-strong team from the Dartmoor Rescue Group joined about 40 officers on Saturday to scour Great Shaugh Wood on the edge of Dartmoor.

The man we have in custody has been arrested on suspicion of her abduction, not a murder charge Police spokeswoman

Dartmoor Rescue Group volunteer Ian Lowcock, 39, said: "We are searching a huge area.

"It is very difficult terrain and we are having to pick possible routes through the undergrowth where people could have gone. It is slow work."

No trace of the teenager or her possessions has yet been found.

Devon and Cornwall Police spokeswoman, PC Sharon Newman, said: "No-one has heard from her since she left her home last Friday, but we are always hopeful that we will find her alive.

Hedgerows and fields

"The man we have in custody has been arrested on suspicion of her abduction, not a murder charge."

Officers are working on the assumption Alicia walked the half mile from Corntown to nearby Cornwood and caught the Plymouth-bound bus.

Alicia had to walk half a mile from her home to a bus stop

Officers continued to scour hedgerows and fields along the seven-mile bus route on Friday.

The teenager was last seen by her mother when she left home at about 0845 GMT on Friday to catch the bus into Plymouth.

Police described her disappearance as being "totally out of character".

They said she frequently used to text and call friends on her mobile, but this has not been used since she disappeared.

Alicia, who studies health and education at Plymouth College of Further Education, lives at home with her parents and three brothers.

Night out

She did not turn up at her job in a Plymouth patisserie on Friday afternoon, did not collect her pay packet from work and has not touched her savings.

Her friends contacted the police that same evening when she failed to show up for a planned night out in the city.

Alicia has been described as slimly-built, 5ft 4in tall, with straight, shoulder-length, brown hair.

She was last seen wearing dark trousers, a black v-necked long sleeved jumper, dark brown boots, a short green military-style jacket, and carrying a green canvas bag holding college work.