A Royal Mail worker in Plymouth spotted a missing schoolgirl and alerted police after he recognised her from pictures in The Herald and on its website.

Tamara Clark, (13), is now back, safe and well with her relieved family, after being missing since last weekend.

She had said that she was going to meet a friend and go to a tenpin bowling alley but left the venue with two men.

Police became increasingly concerned, even hosting a press conference last Tuesday afternoon.

While collecting mail from the West Hoe post office Richard Bouch said he spotted a young girl and an older teenager “kissing and cuddling”.

He told readers: “Straight away I thought ‘that’s the girl’.

“I have The Herald’s website as my homepage and I’d seen her face that morning when I logged on, so the picture was fresh in my mind. I was pretty sure it was her.

“I went back into the post office and opened up The Herald and looked at the picture so by then I was confident it was her.

“I just walked up to her and said ‘Excuse me, your not called Tamara are you?’.

“The lad with her said ‘No, no, she’s not’ and she looked coy.

“By then I just knew it was her. I think any other 13-year-old girl would have given me a bit of abuse.”

When praised for his vigilance, Richard said: “It was all because of The Herald really, putting out the pictures of her.

“I do think they should put up pictures of missing kids on the big screen in town. It could easily have been a very unhappy ending.”

Leading investigator Det Insp Jim Colwell said the result showed how the police, the local media and the public could work well together.