INVESTIGATIONS into a girl's mysterious disappearance 19 years ago have been stepped up on the day of her 21st birthday.

Detectives are making fresh appeals for information about the disappearance of Hartlepool toddler Katrice Lee, who vanished in Germany on November 28, 1981.

She was last seen in an Army base supermarket in West Germany on her second birthday.

Her parents, Sharon and Richard, have always believed she was abducted and could have been brought up in Germany or Britain without knowing her true identity.

A spokeswoman for the British forces in Germany said: "There was an extensive search at the time of her disappearance, but nothing turned up. Now, on her 21st birthday, the investigation has been reopened."

Articles appealing for witnesses who may have seen Katrice or know anything about her have been put in British forces newspapers.

Experts at the National Missing Persons Bureau have produced an image of what Katrice could look like now and are hoping it will alert someone to her whereabouts.

Katrice was shopping in the Army supermarket with her mother, when she ran to meet her father outside the shop, but she never arrived.

An extensive search of the area failed to find any trace of her.

The couple, who have another daughter, Natasha, now 26, returned to Hartlepool soon after the original search was called off and later divorced.

Mr Lee, who was serving in the Army in Germany at the time of the disappearance, lives in Hartlepool and works as a part-time postman.

Anyone with information should call the National Missing Persons Bureau on 0500 700700.