Teenager to be reunited with family

Sep 29 2012

Schoolgirl Megan Stammers is expected to be reunited with her family more than a week after she went missing with her 30-year-old maths teacher.

The 15-year-old is due to travel back to her hometown of Eastbourne, in East Sussex, after she was found in Bordeaux, France, on Thursday, Sussex Police said.

Officers plan to speak with the teenager once she has met with mother Danielle Wilson and stepfather Martin Stammers, a force spokesman said.

Megan's parents have already been in contact with their daughter by telephone but have remained in the UK as they await her return, he added.

Jeremy Forrest, Megan's teacher at Bishop Bell C of E School, in Eastbourne, was arrested on suspicion of child abduction in Bordeaux after the pair went missing last Friday. He remains in custody in France.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "Megan is likely to return today to be reunited with her family and to speak with police."

An officer from Sussex Police's child protection team travelled to Bordeaux to meet Megan after she was found, while a detective inspector from the force was already in France as part of the ongoing search for the teenager, the spokesman said.

It is expected to be "a number of days" before Mr Forrest will be flown back to the UK, he added.

The pair were spotted in Bordeaux by a member of the public who recognised Forrest from television coverage, Chief Inspector Jason Tingley from Sussex Police said.

It was the third potential sighting of the pair in the city, and they were tracked down shortly after midday on Friday.