Norma Collins: Saw a young girl carrying a ferret

The four-year-old girl who has been abducted by her father may have been sighted by an Aberystwyth woman in the south of France.

Dyfed-Powys Police are investigating the sighting last Friday of a child matching Esti Clayton's description holding a ferret - similar to the one the Esti kept as a pet - at Nice market on 9 May.

Estelle's mother Aneta Clayton has also been interviewed by French newspaper journalists as efforts to find the child are stepped up.

Simon Clayton, from Hay-on-Wye, and Esti - whose full name is Estelle - have been missing for a month.

I only saw their backs but what struck me was that the girl, who could only have been about four, was cradling a ferret in her arms Norma Collins

The child carrying the ferret was spotted by Bronglais Hospital secretary Norma Collins, who was on a week-long holiday in the south of France.

"I was walking with my husband in the old town section of Nice on Friday morning when a little girl and a man cut across us before crossing the road," she said.

Breakthrough

"I only saw their backs but what struck me was that the girl, who could only have been about four, was cradling a ferret in her arms."

Mrs Collins thought nothing more about the incident until she returned home from the continent on Saturday.

"I was reading a newspaper report about Esti Clayton which mentioned she had taken her pet ferret with her when I realised it may have been Esti who I'd seen in Nice."

A Dyfed-Powys Police spokesman described the sighting as a breakthrough, saying it was doubtful that many children answering to Esti's description would also have a pet ferret on a lead.

A child answering Esti's description was seen in Nice market

The reported sighting comes as police continue to liaise with Interpol and French and Spanish police over the girl's disappearance.

Mrs Clayton has been interviewed by French newspapers in a move to highlight the missing pair on the Continent.

The latest sighting follows an earlier report that book dealer Mr Clayton - whose former wife had been living with Esti in Brecon - had been seen in southern France.

"This is a significant sighting which we are fully investigating," said

Previous sighting

"I hope that everybody who has recently returned from the France area will look at the photographs of Esti, Simon Clayton and the Volkswagen Caravelle vehicle that have been circulated," said Detective Inspector Steve Hughson.

In an earlier sighting - 11 days after Mr Clayton and Esti's disappearance last month - a French resident claimed to have seen the pair travelling in the south of France.

Posters showing the father and daughter have been distributed to French police stations as well as camp sites.

And English-language newspaper, the Riviera Gazette, in Nice published an appeal for information on Thursday.

Esti went missing on 11 April while on an access visit to her father.

Although Mr Clayton left a note for Mrs Clayton saying he was taking Esti on a three-week holiday, police suspect he may have abducted her to avoid attending a custody hearing.

Anyone with any information is urged to contact the incident room at Brecon on 01874 622 331.