Desperately seeking Sarah
The 19th of March marked the 16th birthday of Sarah Benford. It was a hard day for her family, for Sarah, one of the first children to be featured in the Tesco missing children campaign, is still missing. Since April 2000, there has been no contact with her, no call out of the blue to let them know she is OK.
But the family has not given up hope. Her grandmother June Black, 58, says: 'Sarah was my first grandchild. I was there when she was born and practically pulled her out. She was beautiful - lots of black hair, a perfect baby, very contented, very forward.
Six months after she was born, she and her mother came to live with me when her mother's relationship with her partner deteriorated. Sarah felt like my youngest child. I got up in the night to feed her, I bathed her; being in her company was pleasure. We were so close. She was beautiful. At 14, she was 5ft 8ins, long legged and very elegant - with her lipstick on she could pass for a much older girl.
I last saw Sarah on 21st March, nearly two years ago. It was two days after her birthday and we had a special lunch together at our local pub. I kissed her goodbye - and never saw her again. You cannot imagine how devastating all this has been. By modern standards, we're a very close-knit family. My four children and grandchildren live in the area, we phone each other two or three times a day.
We've tried not to let this blight the lives of the younger grandchildren, but it's always there. None of us really know why Sarah went missing; you wrack your brains and of course, there's a lot of 'if onlys'. The last time anyone saw her, she was talking to a man outside the bank at Kettering.
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