Have you seen these children?

High-profile cases
The site has featured some very prominent cases. Among the most famous was that of tragic Sarah Payne. 'When Sarah's picture went on site, we had several sightings,' says Chief Insp Bonnett. 'Early on, there was a sighting of her in Cheshire. We contacted all the forces between Sussex and Cheshire and put up posters at every single service station between the two. Those posters came from our site. They were literally done overnight. It would have taken days or weeks to do them using the old system.'

One child still on site is Ben Needham, possibly the most famous missing child in Britain. Ben was just 21 months old when he disappeared on the Greek island of Kos in 1991.

'Since we had the age progression software on site, we've had two people, both on holiday, who thought they had seen him - one in the Balkans, another on a Greek Island. Both sightings have been followed up but nothing has come of them. It is still regarded as an active case.'

Age progression
Specialised age progression software, which enables the police to take a picture of a young child kidnapped years ago and predict how he would look now, is one of the site's key weapons. 'We take a photograph of a near relative at the same age as the child is now, generally a parent, and blend it with the age progression software. Generally they can be very accurate, unless something unusual has happened in their growth.