Desperately seeking Sarah

She contacted social services and they put Sarah in a children's home in Northampton. It was a voluntary placement; they thought a different environment away from her gang might help. There were no locked doors or barred windows. She could come and see me or her family whenever she wanted.

But here is a big regret. Before she went into the home, she said to me: 'Nan, can I live with you?' And this is something I'll suffer about to my dying day - I said no. I had a lot of health problems, suffered from shortness of breath and had to give up work as a call centre advisor four years ago. The illness was frightening and stressful and I couldn't cope.

When she went missing for the last time, the police were backward in coming forward. They just said, 'Oh that Benford child has gone again.' At first, we all thought she'd come back like before but she didn't. After a while, Victoria wrote a 17-page letter begging the police to do something, but by then all the leads had gone cold.

After that, detectives came three times to Victoria's house and searched it from top to bottom, thinking Victoria might have murdered Sarah. That really hurt.