GENETTE

The mystery of the disappearance of teenage newsgirl Genette Tate from a lane near her Devon home is the UK's longest-running missing persons inquiry.

:: The elfin faced 13-year-old was last seen by two friends in Within Lane, near her home village of Aylesbeare, Devon, at 3.30 pm on August 19, 1978.

:: She cycled up the lane ahead of her pals – and at 3.48 pm they found her bike and papers lying in the roadway and started looking for her.

:: At 4.15 pm that day they told her father, John Tate, that she was missing – and the police were informed an hour later.

:: Within 45 minutes a police search was launched using the force helicopter and dogs, and an incident room was later set up in Aylesbeare village hall.

:: Over the ensuing days an army of 7,000 volunteers, including military personnel, holidaymakers and then Chief Constable John Alderson, combed local common land and the countryside.

:: Specially trained sniffer dogs were flown in from Israel, and the local vicar set up a confession hot line.

:: A total of 500 lakes, rivers and wells were trawled for her body.

:: Inquiries took detectives to Australia and all across the UK.

:: In 1987 a former prison inmate claimed he was in a car driven by another convict who asked Genette for directions – then reversed over her.

Police dismissed the story.

:: A £23,000 reward fund set up by villagers and business people for information was never claimed.

:: The police have followed up over 11,000 leads, and the mountain of case papers includes a 20,000 card index.

:: The police heard from clairvoyants, spiritualists, mind readers, used a hypnotist to put two witnesses in a trance, and investigated a former pop singer's claim that he knew where Genette was buried.

:: Genette's parents believe she is dead - but no body has never been found, and the mystery remains as baffling as ever.