By Dave GooderhamTHE distraught mother of a teenage girl who has been missing from her home for 10 days pleaded last night with her daughter to get in touch.

By Dave Gooderham

THE distraught mother of a teenage girl who has been missing from her home for 10 days pleaded last night with her daughter to get in touch.

Fighting back the tears, Phillipa Gordon made her emotional appeal after she last hearing from her daughter Olivia, 15, and friend Kayleigheen Rogers, 16, on Tuesday.

The teenagers said they were in Scotland and would be back home in Bury St Edmunds on Saturday, but they failed to show up.

Speaking from her home in Bury St Edmunds last night, Mrs Gordon said: "It is the not knowing that is very hard. She said she would be back on Saturday and that was my focus as I still had hope.

"Part of me is getting very worried, but I am trying to put those fears on hold and remain very hopeful."

Mrs Gordon last saw her daughter on April 25 when Olivia and Kayleigheen had said they were going to a party in the town.

Olivia then telephoned her mother last week to say she was having a holiday in Scotland, but Mrs Gordon believes the pair might have found work in a nightclub.

She said: "On the Friday, Olivia had been out with Kayleigheen job-hunting. She was very concerned that she didn't have a part-time job and all her friends had one.

"She had been offered a job with a conservatory company, but they found out they were too young. They were very deflated. My own instincts tell me what may have happened in Scotland could be related to this as they were so down about not getting a job."

Mrs Gordon first heard from her daughter the day after she went missing and Olivia had said Kayleigheen was very depressed.

She added it was not the first time Olivia had gone missing and admitted: "In the last year, she has been behaving very erratically and she has gone missing from time to time. But that has only ever been for 24 or 48 hours and she has always called to let me know she is okay."

Sgt Gary Moran, of Suffolk police, said all options were being kept open and officers would be working closely with police throughout Scotland in the hunt for the missing girls.

He added: "We would like the girls or anyone who knows of their whereabouts to get in touch with the police.

"Although the girls stated they are in Scotland, there is some suspicion they are in fact still in the Bury St Edmunds area."

Although some mystery still surrounds where the teenagers might be, Mrs Gordon said she had no doubts they were in Scotland, although there had been reported sightings of the pair in the Stowmarket and Ipswich areas.

Mrs Gordon, who is married to Robert, said Olivia's two brothers, Ben, 10, and Daniel, nine, and her sister, Juliet, 17, were all trying to remain calm.

The family moved to Bury St Edmunds two years ago after living in Belgium. Olivia was studying at the town's King Edward VI High School until September when she left after struggling to cope with the different education and her battle against dyslexia.

Mrs Gordon added: "She is very outgoing and can be fun to be with. She is a bit of a performer and really loves the theatre."

Olivia is described as white, 5ft 9in tall, with collar-length, bleached blonde hair, blue eyes, a pale complexion and a stud in her top lip. She was last seen wearing a dark cardigan and light skirt.

Kayleigheen is described as white, 5ft 4in tall, with a pale complexion, of slim build, with black shoulder-length hair and her nose, ears and lip pierced.

It is not known what she was wearing on the day of her disappearance, but the teenager normally wears dark clothing.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Olivia and Kayleigheen should contact Suffolk police on 01284 774100.

dave.gooderham@eadt.co.uk