UPDATE: 12:40pm, 25th June
Police have confirmed that the child's mother has been located, in the family home. The child is now said to be in the care of social services.
Police in England have issued a public appeal in the hope of locating the mother of a five-year-old girl found alone at a bus stop in Brighton yesterday.
According to reports, the little girl travelled on a train from London to Brighton, with a woman – thought to be her mother – but ended up getting separated from her shortly after.
CCTV footage shows the pair getting off the train together, then going to a public toilet at the station. They appear to have headed off into the city together, but somehow the little girl later ended up alone at a bus stop outside of a hotel.
It was concerned members of the public who found the girl, sitting on a bench outside of the Hotel Ibis. Police are unsure whether the little girl lost her mother at the bus stop, or returned their after becoming separated.
Police have said they are now ‘extremely concerned’ and ‘anxious to find the woman and check on her welfare’.
An investigating detective said: “We are appealing to the woman identified to urgently get in touch. Did you see this woman at the station, or have you seen her in town?”
Let's hope she will be located safe and sound.
