School friends of missing Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman have made a heartfelt appeal for their return.

The children from St Andrews Primary School spoke out after police said they believed the two 10-year-olds were alive but being held captive.

Detectives are following "significant leads" from Holly's computer, which the pair used to surf the internet shortly before their disappearance.

It's a really horrible feeling. Just bring them back

Natalie Parr, friend

Details of the leads have not been released, but it has fuelled speculation the girls might have been lured away by someone they met online.

On the advice of criminal psychologists and other experts police have also renewed direct appeals to anyone holding Holly and Jessica to let them go.

Those calls were echoed on Friday by four friends who spoke to reporters in their school library.

Party hope

Natalie Parr, 10, said: "It's a really horrible feeling. Just bring them back."

She was joined by fellow 10-year-olds Jennie White, Sean Flack and Reece Jarvis, who said they looked forward to holding a party when their two friends came back.

Natalie added: "Holly and Jessica are like sisters to me and I miss them so much.

"Just give them back," say Holly and Jessica's friends

"Just give them back," said Sean, who showed a Valentine's card he had received from Holly, with her picture framed in a heart shape.

And Jennie said: "When they come back everybody will be really happy. "

Natalie, who had been at Holly's house on Saturday night said the two missing girls were "like best friends"

"They just hang around together," he said.

Families' "hell"

Also on Friday the girls' parents received a message of support from the parents of Amanda Dowler, who went missing on her way home from school in Surrey in March.

Robert and Sally Dowler, who are still waiting for news of their 13-year-old daughter's whereabouts said: "we deeply hope that both girls are found alive and well".

Police have now ruled out a possible sighting of the girls on some CCTV footage in Penzance, Cornwall, but officers are working round the clock to check others.

Speaking earlier on Friday at a news conference Detective Superintendent David Hankins spoke of the "sheer hell" the Chapman and Wells families were going through.

New pictures have also been released, showing Jessica and her family on a holiday shortly before the girls' disappeared from near their homes in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on Sunday.

	:	Holly and Jessica
Maps showing focus of the investigation

The latest reliable sighting of the pair was in the high street at 1920 BST, police said on Friday.

Det Supt Hankins said: "We're working on the experience from elsewhere and it's our belief that the two girls are still alive, being held captive somewhere."

Holly gave this card to her friend

He told BBC News the police were creating a profile of likely suspects and said: "We're building up a picture which is starting to emerge."

More than 3,500 calls have been received by police in connection with the disappearance and their website has had more than 70,000 hits.

A reconstruction of the girls' last known movements will be prepared by police over the weekend.

About 250 officers are still conducting a search of the village, which is expected to be extended to the surrounding countryside over the next few days.

Police say the strongest possibility is that the girls are still in the area near Soham.

Tests are continuing on a white van seized on Wednesday from a caravan park in Wentworth, about 10 miles from Soham.

But police say lines of inquiry from four people who came forward after being picked up on CCTV footage around the time the girls disappeared have dried up.

Both girls, who were wearing Manchester United shirts, are white, about 4ft 6in tall and slim.

Jessica is tanned and has shoulder-length brown hair while Holly is fair and has blonde hair.

Anyone with information should call police on 01480 422982.