Megan Stammers and Jeremy Forrest Found in Bordeaux

The Guardian
September 28, 2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/sep/28/megan-stammers-jeremy-forrest-found-france?newsfeed=true

A CCTV image shows Jeremy Forrest and Megan Stammers on board a Dover-to-Calais ferry. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

The missing schoolgirl Megan Stammers and her teacher Jeremy Forrest have been found in the French City of Bordeaux.

The 15-year-old, who went missing on 20 September and was last seen on a ferry to France with her 30-year-old maths teacher, has been taken into protection.

According to French authorities the pair were stopped by police on the main high street running through the centre of Bordeaux called Rue Sainte-Catherine at 1.15pm French time on Friday. According to another police source quoted by the French press, they were on their way to a job interview.

Forrest has been arrested on suspicion of child abduction. He had been the subject of an European arrest warrant and the international police search involved Sussex police working with Interpol.

Megan's stepfather, Martin Stammer, spoke of "pure elation, pure relief that she is just safe and well".

The headmaster of Bishop Bell school where Stammers was a pupil and Forrest taught maths, said everyone in the school community was delighted that Megan had been found and could now be reunited with her family.

"We found the couple on the public highway in the centre of Bordeaux," said a French police source, adding that Megan was "in good health". Both she and Forrest had been taken to the commissariat at Bordeaux, where the teacher was placed in police custody.

The prosecutor's office said the couple had been found thanks to "an interesting and credible witness" who contacted them 48 hours before they were picked up. The witness was not anyone close to the couple, it said.

French officials said their role now was only to execute the European arrest warrant issued by the British authorities for Jeremy Forrest. This warrant will be looked at some time between now and Saturday by the prosecutor's office.

"The young girl will be returned to her family as soon as possible," said an official.

Megan's natural father, Barry Wratten, 41, said her discovery was "the news he had been hoping and praying for".

"The past week has been absolutely terrible," he said. "You don't want to say it, but sometimes you think the worst. So this is wonderful news. It's brilliant. I can't say how relieved I am.

"I just want her back in the UK now with her family. My message to Megan would be that I love her very much, and that I am so glad she is safe. I'd also like to say that I am not angry with her at all – we all do silly things when we are young without thinking about the consequences."

Sussex police issued a formal statement saying the pair were "safe and well".

"The information which led to them being located came as a direct result of media coverage in France," the statement said. "At this stage we are not confirming the specific location where they were found. Their families have been informed and arrangements will now be made for Megan and Jeremy's safe return."

Police said earlier they had received seven phone calls reporting possible sightings of the pair across Europe after the schoolgirl's disappearance was featured on the BBC Crimewatch programme.

Martin Stammer told Sky News: "As time goes on you despair even more, but knowing Megan, knowing the girl she is, I always had that belief that she was strong enough within herself to remain safe and well."

He said there was no indication of when she would return to the UK, and thanked police and supporters on Twitter and Facebook who had helped maintain publicity about the case.

Terry Boatwright, headmaster of Bishop Bell school, said: "Clearly, much needs to be done now to support Megan, and her family, as they seek to return to some sort of normality and we will do all we can to play our part in that."

Boatwright has faced questions over his handling of concerns about the relationship between the two after it emerged that school authorities and the police were investigating the situation before Stammers' family were alerted. There were also reports that the school was aware there may have been an issue after the pair were seen holding hands on a school trip to Los Angeles as far back as February.

Earlier this year Boatwright refused to show a copy of the school's child safeguarding policy to a child protection campaigner who was investigating child protection in Church of England schools overseen by the diocese of Chichester. Boatwright defended the school's child protection record on Wednesday.

"Bishop Bell school has a robust safeguarding policy in place, takes safeguarding very seriously and the effectiveness of its safeguarding procedures is rated outstanding by Ofsted," he said.

On Thursday Forrest's father, Jim, made a televised appeal to his son and Megan. "Hi Megan, hi Jeremy," said Jim Forrest, "I hope this message reaches you and you are both OK. There are a lot of people back home that are desperate to hear from you … All I am asking is for one of you to make a call, send an email, so we know you are both safe. We are all here for you both. Please, please get in contact."