Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

Sarah Benford lived with her family in Havelock Street, Kettering, but the police described her as "a troubled teenager" who had a history of running away.

Image source, Google

Sarah had spent some time in care at Raven House in Corby, Tiffield Children's Centre and Welford House, Northampton, which is where she went missing from in April 2000.

The last confirmed sighting of Sarah was by her mother, Vicky, on 6 April 2000, in Kettering town centre.

The search for Sarah Benford's body is taking place in private woodland near the bridge on Pipe Lane, just outside the picturesque village of Warkton.

The woodland is just a few hundred metres across the fields from Boughton House, which dates back to the 15th Century.

Image source, Google

The circumstances that led to today's search for Sarah Benford's body transpire from a review by Derbyshire and Leicestershire police forces and the Northamptonshire cold case team.

As part of the review, officers spoke to 20 people and took a number of statements and reports.

In a fresh appeal for information, Sarah Benford's mother, Vicky Benford, said: "My daughter should be celebrating her 30th birthday this week. 

"Sarah has a brother and sister who miss her every day and we all need to know what has happened to her.

"We would ask for people to contact the police if they know anything about Sarah's disappearance".    

Image source, Northamptonshire Police

David Keller
BBC News

Northamptonshire Police say they believe Sarah Benford "may have been murdered in the early days of her disappearance" in April 2000.

Despite today's searches in Warkton woodland for clues, police are still appealing for people to get in touch.

"I am sure that people in the Kettering area may know what happened to her, or have heard rumours about what happened – I want those people to come forward," Det Ch Insp Martin Kinchin said.

Tom Percival
BBC Radio Northampton

Since 2003, Sarah Benford's disappearance from a care home in Northampton has been treated as a "no body murder", but police are now searching this woodland near Warkton to try and put that mystery to an end.

"I would love in my heart to think Sarah is alive and make contact with us, but my head tells me it is unlikely that she is," Det Ch Insp Martin Kinchin said.

Tom Percival
BBC Radio Northampton

Det Ch Insp Martin Kinchin said new information from people the force had spoken to previously had brought them back to the woodland.

He said people who knew Sarah at the time she went missing now had "more confidence" to provide police with information and that their "allegiances have changed" now they are older and "living independent lives".

Tom Percival
BBC Radio Northampton

Det Ch Insp Martin Kinchin told me parts of this woodland near Warkton were searched in the original probe into Sarah Benford's disappearance, but "new information" has brought them back to the area.

He told me Sarah, who was aged 14 in 2000, "was incredibly vulnerable at the time she went missing" and said cases such as the child abuse ring in Rotherham showed that teenagers "might appear streetwise, their lives are more complex than that".

Tom Percival
BBC Radio Northampton

This is the scene in an area of woodland beside the bridge in Warkton where police said they are searching for Sarah Benford's body.

Det Ch Insp Martin Kinchin told me they are searching this area as they know some of Sarah's "associates" came to it at the time she want missing and used it as an area to "dispose of stolen property".

Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

The mother of Sarah Benford, Vicky, says she has "spent the last 16 years wondering where she is".

She said the family is "looking for closure around her disappearance". 

Image source, Northamptonshire Police

Vicky Benford said: "As a family we need to come to terms with what has happened and won't be able to do this until we know what has happened to Sarah."

Helen Burchell
BBC News

• 4 April 2000 - Sarah absconds from Welford House children's home in Welford Road, Northampton, and returns to Kettering
• 6 April 2000 - Sarah visits her mother in Kettering town centre and there are also sightings of her at Almond Road, Highfield Road and Cherry Road, Kettering
• June 2003 - Three houses in Kettering and one in South Wales are searched
• 5 July 2003 - Man arrested but released without charge
• 22 September 2003 - Man arrested but released without charge
• 1 October 2003 - A house in Kettering is searched
• 23 October 2003 - Houses searched and further people from Nelson Street, Kettering, are arrested. Nobody is charged
• 26 October 2003 - A flat in Hampden Crescent, Kettering, is searched
• 27 November 2003 - A 41-year-old man is arrested but released without charge
• December 2003 - Police search for several days in Furnace Lane, Finedon, seizing some exhibits
• 15 March 2015 - Searches resume in an area of woodland near Warkton

Police investigating the murder of a teenage girl who disappeared 16 years ago have begun searching a wooded area near Kettering.

Sarah Benford, 14, went missing from her care home in Northampton in April 2000.

A recent review of the case included interviews with 20 people and led to the decision to search the area.

The previous investigation yielded no results for the police...

Image source, Northamptonshire Police

As part of the new searches into the disappearance of Sarah Benford, police are looking in an area of woodland near to Warkton.

Image source, Northamptonshire Police

The last confirmed sighting of Sarah was by her mother on 6 April 2000 in Kettering town centre. Police believe Sarah may have been murdered in the early days of her disappearance.

Northamptonshire Police said there were several sightings after that date, but they have never been confirmed.

Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

Police are carrying out new searches over the disappearance of 14-year-old Sarah Benford, who police believe was murdered 16 years ago.

Image source, Northamptonshire Police

She has not been seen since she went missing from her care home in Northampton in April 2000. Her disappearance has been treated as a murder investigation since 2003.

Officers are searching an area of woodland close to Warkton, near Kettering, in the hope clues over what happened to her may be discovered.

Police are carrying out searches in woodland for missing Northamptonshire teenager Sarah Benford, who disappeared aged 14 in April 2000.

Andrew Radd
BBC Radio Northampton

The chief executive of the East Midlands Ambulance Service, which covers Northamptonshire, is to stand down sooner than expected.

Sue Noyes was due to leave for family reasons in June, but instead she'll leave the organisation this week.

Director of operations, Richard Henderson, will take over for the time being.

Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

Silverstone Circuit says the band Texas will be the headline act on the main stage for this year's British Grand Prix.

They'll perform on the opening night of the Grand Prix weekend on Friday, 8 July.

Further support acts will be announced at a later date.

Sam Read
BBC Radio Northampton politics reporter

Northampton Borough Council's internal auditor, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, is looking at whether the authority's rules and processes need to change after it didn't get back £10m it lent to Northampton Town for stadium work.

The man heading up the review, Chris Dickens, told a meeting last night he is going through a "significant amount of information" and will be asking for more, with an "internal data room" for documents being set up at the council.

He hopes to provide an investigation update in May, but cannot guarantee it. Separate probes by both the police and another audit company are also continuing.   

Willy Gilder
BBC Radio Northampton

Exactly a year ago today this happened...

Northampton's Greyfriars Bus Station, opened in 1976 and described as the "mouth of hell", was demolished in less than 30 seconds.

It remains unclear what will happen to the site, but the borough council says part of it must be used as a coach interchange.

The authority has selected separate developers to suggest ideas for it and these will be made public next month.

Kate Kinsella
BBC Look East weather

Tuesday is expected to be cloudier than Monday, but still dry with a high of 9C (48F).

You can see my full forecast below or head to the BBC Weather website.