After 18 days, missing girl is found alive at her school

THE 18-day search for a missing schoolgirl came to an end yesterday when she was found safe and well – in the grounds of the school where she is a pupil, still dressed in her uniform.

As her relieved mother spoke of her delight last night, detectives were waiting to interview 13-year-old runaway Michaela Hunter over where she had spent the past two and half weeks while police desperately searched for her.

Michaela turned up at the school as specialist sniffer dogs were about to be deployed as part of the intensified search for the "vulnerable" Dundee teenager.

Fears for the schoolgirl's safety had been growing daily and her family had recently voiced fears that she may have been abducted.

But the search ended in relief for both her family and Tayside Police yesterday morning after Michaela was found in the grounds of St John's High School.

She had been excluded from the Roman Catholic secondary on the day she disappeared. Michaela was found by officers from Tayside Police after school staff reported that she was at the secondary. Officers were diverted to the school in Harefield Road, Dundee, after a householder reported a sighting of the teenager around 7am in The Glens area of the city.

Michaela was taken to Ninewells Hospital for a check-up but was discharged after being found to be fit and well.

She has yet to be reunited with her family while inquiries by officers from the Tayside force focus on piecing together Michaela's movements in the 18 days since she vanished from her home in Yeaman's Lane on 19 April.

Her mother, Audrey Reid, spoke of her delight at the news her daughter had been found safe and well. But she added that anyone who had sheltered the teenager during the past two and half weeks should be brought to justice.

Ms Reid said the past 18 days had been "dreadful" but she was "very happy" to know that Michaela was safe.

She said: "I hope if anyone has been keeping her that something happens to them for their actions. We didn't know where she was. It's been really stressful.

"I think she must have just run out of places to go and has gone up to the school where she knows everybody."

Michaela's grandmother, Rosemary Grant, who had travelled from her home in Germany to offer support to the family, said: "Somebody must have been giving her something to eat and shelter. They've been very misguided. It's all speculation at the moment, but I hope, whoever they are, they are charged for it."

A spokesman for Tayside Police said: "

Inquiries will now focus upon where Michaela has been during time that she has been unaccounted for.

"Meetings will also take place in the days ahead, involving all relevant agencies and the teenager's family, to determine what happens next."

Chief Inspector Suzie Mertes, who had been in charge of the search, said: "We are relieved, naturally. She had actually been seen by a member of the public who had recognised her and called in."