TWO teenage runaways who sparked a nationwide search pledged their love for one another yesterday.

Paul Baxter, 16, and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Christine Rylance, sparked a five-day hunt after they vanished.

They were eventually found on the outskirts of Selby, in North Yorkshire.

Safely home with their families, in South Tyneside, they said their ordeal had not dimmed their love for each other.

The pair disappeared when Christine's parents, Ian and Paula, of Harton, South Shields, ordered her to end the relationship with Paul because of the age difference.

Speaking from his home in West Boldon, after a reunion with his parents, Wendy and Gary Owens, Paul said he and Christine planned to continue seeing each other.

"We went away because we wanted others to know how much we love each other and because we wanted to be together," he said.

He said he and Christine went to London "for a few hours", before jumping on a train to York. They bought sleeping bags and slept rough.

But they remained oblivious to the national media attention they were getting and their parents' emotional appeal for their return.

"We were away for five days but we didn't know what trouble we were causing back at home," said Paul.

"It wasn't until yesterday when a policewoman stopped us and said they had descriptions of two missing teenagers and asked our names.

"We realised we shouldn't have done it now but we wanted to be together.

At her home, Christine said she was glad to be back.

"We are still very much in love and we are going to carry on seeing each other now we are home," she said.

Paul's stepfather, Gary, said the pair could carry on seeing each other while Christine's parents said: "We're just so delighted she's safe and well.

"They're obviously serious about each other and, once things have calmed down, we'll all need to sit down together and sort this out, so this never happens again."