12:13pm Tuesday 24th November 2009
A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl who sparked a major police operation after going for a walk in her pyjamas early this morning has been found.
The youngster was spotted by a motorist who was driving through Cotherstone, near Barnard Castle at about 6.25am today.
As the driver turned into Bowes Road at Church Corner he looked in his mirror and saw the girl walking towards Barnard Castle.
The man rang the police, who scrambled a helicopter as well as sending officers and dogs to search for the girl.
The surrounding streets, Cotherstone Primary School grounds and the play park opposite the cemetery were all the subject of fruitless searches by police.
House to house inquiries were started and about an hour and a half after the alert was sounded the girl was found safe and well at home after making her own way back.
An officer knocking on doors in the village spoke to a resident who recognised the sketchy description he had of the girl and directed him to a house close to where she had been seen wandering.
Sgt Chris Knox, of Barnard Castle police station, said: "The officer went to the house and the girl was safe and well.
"Apparently she had told her mother she had decided to visit her friend who lived nearby and let herself out of the front locked door.
"She said her friend wasnt at home so she came back.
"The mother had doubted what her daughter had told her but when the officer arrived it confirmed what had happened."
He said the quick-thinking of the motorist had enabled police to launch a full search operation as quickly as possible.
"The biggest danger to the little girl would have been the traffic. "Fortunately she has made her way home and was fit and well. Were pleased that there has been a happy outcome."
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