Police in York looking for a runaway couple and their two foster children said today they had "exhausted" all lines of their inquiries in the city.

Officers began their investigation last week when the couple's car, a blue Honda Concerto, was found abandoned at Scarcroft Hill, York.

Jeffrey and Jennifer Bramley disappeared from their Cambridgeshire home 15 weeks ago after being told their children, five-year-old Jade Bennett and her three-year-old sister Hannah were to be taken from them.

Despite international appeals in the media and a major Crimewatch campaign in Britain there had been no confirmed sighting of the family or the car until last week.

However, officers said today that they believed the search had once again become a national one and that the family may have left York some time ago.

Sergeant John Reed, of York Police, said: "So far all the inquiries in York have been negative. We have carried a thorough search of all the guest houses in the city and have found nothing.

"The car may have been abandoned for some time and the couple and the children could possibly have left."

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