POLICE are searching for a 16-year-old girl who is believed to have run away from home to be with a man she met in an Internet chatroom.

The family of Francesca Sumner, from Whitby, North Yorkshire, reported her missing after she failed to return from visiting her grandparents.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "It is known that Francesca had been speaking to a man in a chatroom.

"That is forming a major part of our inquiry.

"We would like anyone who knows of her whereabouts to contact us.

"As a result of ongoing police inquiries, it is thought that she may have travelled to the Watford area in order to meet up with the man she had met through the Internet."

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

After the visit, she returned to Wakefield railway station, where she met another relative and told him she was going to London.

She was last seen at 6.15pm on Wednesday.

Francesca is 5ft 6in, slim, with very long, dark brown hair.

She speaks with a North-East accent and was last seen wearing a black coat with a fur collar, a denim mini-skirt, black T-shirt, black tights and gold calf-length boots.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call (01423) 539334.