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Urgent Police Appeal To Find Missing Boy


Detectives have issued an urgent appeal to trace a 10-year-old boy who went missing from his Birmingham home last night.
Ben Smythe was last seen at around 7pm last night when he left his friend's home in Riddfield Road, Bromford, to walk the short distance to his house.
He had been out playing football with his 12-year-old pal Simon Kesterton.

They had then gone to a chip shop before Ben decided to walk the short distance to his home in Bromford Drive.

"We went to the chip shop and we came back... Ben then walked off. That was at about 7pm," said Simon.

"Police and his family are extremely concerned due to his young age and vulnerability," a West Midlands Police spokeswoman said.

She added: "It may be that he has gone off on his own accord. He was walking back from his friend's house last night and it's a long time for a 10-year-old to be off on their own."

Simon's mother Louise, 42, said Ben and Simon were outside playing football.

"They were just talking about what they were going to do next," she said.

"He (Ben) said he wasn't going to go home that minute and I said just to make sure you do and that was the last time I had seen him."

Local resident Michael McDonald, 20, said: "Ben is just a normal kid. He is naughty sometimes and sometimes he is good.

"There's no way he is going to be outside. He is either at a friend's house and doesn't want to come back or something bad has happened."

A force helicopter was brought in overnight to help look for Ben and the search is continuing today with officers conducting house-to-house inquiries.

Sky's David Crabtree is in Bromford and said the police operation to find Ben "does not appear to be on the same" scale as the hunt for Shannon Matthews who disappeared in West Yorkshire last month.

"On the streets at the moment there are hardly any police but lots of media," he said.

But after exhausting their door-to-door enquiries overnight, Crabtree said detectives are now widening their search.

The police are appealing for Ben or anyone who may have seen him to contact his family or police as soon as possible.

He is described as white, 5ft tall and slim build with short blond hair.

Ben was said to be wearing a long dark coat with a hood, dark jeans, and a cream and green t-shirt when he was last seen.

Anyone with information is urged to contact police at Stechford on 0845 113 5000.



http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,, ... 12,00.html