Police launch Missing Kids TV

Police have launched a television channel devoted to missing children that will air on screens in public places.

Missing Kids TV will show in doctors' surgeries, hospitals and shopping centres to help find some of the 150,000 children who are reported missing each year.

Parents and Abducted Children Together launched the initiative on Wednesday with senior officers at New Scotland Yard.

It has been backed by Gerry and Kate McCann, the parents of missing Madeleine, and will show rolling images of missing youngsters.

Catherine Meyer, founder of the children’s charity, said: “The truth is we don’t know how many children go missing, which is an appalling state of affairs.

“But the best estimate we have shows that every five minutes a child goes missing in the UK. It is really quite shocking."

Richard Bryan, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, commented: “The Madeleine McCann case highlights the fact we need to use every possible avenue to respond effectively.”

However, he said her case was not how children usually went missing: “Typically, missing children might stay a night or two with a friend away from home and then drift away from their family.

“But you have got parents who don’t know where their child is. Every parent will have known that fear if their child disappears even for a few moments. But they are not always found and that then becomes critical."