A TEENAGE girl who went missing from home after chatting with a man on the Internet has been found safe and well in the South of England.

Francesca Sumner, 16, from Whitby, North Yorkshire, has been reunited with her family after she was found on Thursday evening by Hertfordshire police.

It is not yet known why the teenager went missing, but police are are investigating whether there is any link with an Internet chatroom.

Francesca's family reported her missing on Wednesday evening after she failed to return home from a visit to her grandparents.

It was revealed that Francesca had been speaking to a man in an Internet chatroom and police believed she may have run away from home to be with the man.

It was thought Francesca may have travelled to the Watford area to visit the man and police had urged anyone who knew of her whereabouts to contact them.

Police in North Yorkshire liaised with their colleagues in Hertfordshire and officers were able to trace Francesca to an address in Watford. When officers found her, she agreed to return to her family.

Police said yesterday that their primary concern had been for Francesca's safety, but they are still investigating what had caused her to go missing.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire police said: "We had got some pointers that she was in Watford and, after speaking with police down there, they were able to find her and she agreed to come home.

"We're still clearing up inquiries about what she was doing and why she went there, but we're satisfied that, crucially, she's safe and well.

"We just need to get the full picture of why she went, but she's back with her family now and that's the key thing."

Francesca had left her home on Wednesday morning to visit her grandparents, who live in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

She was last seen at about 6.15pm on Wednesday when, after leaving her grandparents' house, she met another relative at Wakefield railway station and told him she was going to London.

Police said nobody has been arrested in connection with the incident.