POLICE have today admitted they may not find missing teenager Natasha Coombs alive.As her devastated mother Joanne made another emotional appeal for her 17-year-old daughter to come home, detectives said search teams must now look to the possibility of finding a body.

POLICE have today admitted they may not find missing teenager Natasha Coombs alive.

As her devastated mother Joanne made another emotional appeal for her 17-year-old daughter to come home, detectives said search teams must now look to the possibility of finding a body.

Search teams have been combing woodland around the Manningtree area after the teenager from Dovercourt, Essex disappeared following a night out in Ipswich.

Police said a signal from her mobile phone was last traced near to Manningtree station, where she should have changed trains to travel home.

Speaking from the family home her mother said: “I am clinging to the hope she will walk through the door. I just want to hear the clicking of her high heels on the pavement.

“I am just window watching. We are ready to welcome her back with open arms. Natasha knows she could walk in here now without us asking her any questions, we can't stress that enough.”

But police have said the teenager, who had just started a job in Colchester, may not be found alive.

Inspector Adrian Dearsley said: "I am still hopeful of finding Natasha but as time goes on we must look to the possibility of finding a body."

Natasha's mobile phone, which has not been found, was last used at 11.15pm last Friday in Manningtree. She had called her parents an hour earlier to say she was on her way home and police have said there was no indication she was planning to disappear.

Pc Heather Alston, a police search adviser, said: "We are dealing with a young girl who has effectively disappeared from the face of the earth.”

Mrs Coombes, 40, said she had recently discovered her daughter had posted her profile on the popular internet social networking site, Bebo, and said the possibility of Natasha meeting someone on the site had not been discounted.

She said: “She had a boyfriend, on and off. She is such a beautiful girl but she didn't realise why she got such attention. She is very modest.”

Mrs Coombs and Natasha had recently been shopping together to buy clothes for her new job as a clerical assistant at a property management company.

Natasha is described as white, 5ft 3in and slim with brown highlighted hair.

When last seen she was wearing a purple sequinned top, a purple, pink and white skirt, a white jacket and pumps. Anyone with information is asked to call police at Harwich on 01255 221312.

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