A desperate search involving hundreds of police was continuing for a nine-year-old girl who went missing after a swimming trip in West Yorkshire.

Shannon Matthews was last seen at the gates of West Moor Junior School in Dewsbury on Tuesday afternoon.

Police are investigating suggestions she had told friends she wanted to run away.

"Inquiries are still ongoing to trace (her)," said a West Yorkshire police spokeswoman.

Late on Wednesday, the young girl's mother, Karen, 32, made an emotional appeal for her "princess" to come home.

"Shannon please come home, please, I'm begging you baby, come home," she told reporters. "Shannon, you are not in trouble, darling, please come home. We all love you."

Police, neighbours and relatives searched for the missing girl for a second night in freezing temperatures. Officers are investigating a sighting of the girl on playing fields behind the school at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday and are checking the routes she may taken on the way home.

Police said she had never gone missing before.

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