£1m reward over missing UK girls

Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells have been missing since Sunday. When last seen, they were wearing identical Manchester United jerseys like these.

LONDON, England -- Several British newspapers have offered rewards totalling more than £1 million ($1.5 million) in the bid to find two 10-year-old schoolgirls who have been missing for four days.

Police fear friends Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, from the small village of Soham, near Cambridge, have been abducted.

On Thursday, Express Newspapers, owners of the Daily and Sunday Express and Daily Star, offered a £1 million reward to anyone with information that leads directly to their safe return, or the arrest and conviction of those responsible for their disappearance.

In a similar act, The Sun and the News of the World newspaper, owned by News International, offered a joint reward of £150,000 ($229,000).

In addition, police later announced at a press conference that two anonymous businessmen have also offered rewards totalling a further £60,000 ($90,000).

The girls are the subject of a huge police-led search which has so far failed to find any trace of them, leading police to say they may have been kidnapped.

Cambridgeshire Police, which is heading the hunt for the girls, has welcomed the newspaper rewards.

Detective Superintendent David Hankins said: "We hope this would prompt someone to come forward with information regarding Jessica and Holly."

David Yelland, editor of The Sun, said in a statement: "The Sun newspaper reaches 10 million people every day.

"Surely somebody, somewhere must know something about the disappearance of Jessica and Holly. We appeal to this person to contact the police."

The girls have not been since Sunday evening when they were dressed in identical Manchester United football shirts.

On Tuesday Manchester United soccer star David Beckham issued a statement appealing for them to return home.