Did police search the area where Amber Peat was found prior to her discovery?

National reports suggest officers had already combed the hedge area between Westfield Lane and Parliament Road prior to the discovery of her body on Tuesday evening.

The teen, who went missing from her Bosworth Street home on Saturday night, died from hanging, police have said. There were no suspicious circumstances.

But having asked police if they had searched that area, Chad were told no more details would be released.

A statement put out by the police said her body was ‘out of sight and it would not have been apparent’, but would not expand.

Some of those who took part in community searches criticised police, claiming they were slow beginning their own search, which they strenuously denied, saying more than 400 officers from five forces had been involved.

And residents who live opposite the area where the body of the 13-year-old was found have said they did not see anyone searching the dense wooded area, which is just a a few feet deep, and next to a pathway used by dog walkers.

Neil Matthews, of Westfield Lane, says he even goes into the wooded area every evening to drop scraps of food for the local wildlife.

He said: “We look out onto that area and it was not until Tuesday night at around 7pm did we see police in plain clothes there, there was about 8 to 10 of them.

“We never saw anybody searching that area before that, the police or the community searches.

“I go in there to scatter bits of food for the local wildlife, I was in there at 10.20pm on Monday night.

“Because of the lamppost, it’s always light in there as well, but if you look in there you would not see anything, it’s really dense and overgrown.

“The amount of people who go up and down this path, it makes you think, but life’s full of what ifs.”

Neighbour Valerie Smith added: “I was away until Monday, and I didn’t see any police there at all until Tuesday night.”