Police and worried community members are continuing to search for missing 12-year-old Tia Sharp five days after she vanished.

Teams of officers spent Tuesday combing woodland close to where the schoolgirl was last seen.

Tia disappeared on Friday after leaving her grandmother Christine Sharp's home in New Addington, south-east London, at around midday.

Volunteers mounted their own hunt for the youngster on Tuesday night after Tia's family made an emotional plea for her safe return.

Her stepfather David Niles said relatives were "in bits" and begged: "Just find my little girl."

Wearing a Find Tia campaign T-shirt, the 29-year-old said: "How would you feel if it was your daughter? I haven't slept in four days. Natalie (Tia's mother) is in bits.

"The whole country has helped us and is supporting us. The police have done everything."

Scotland Yard said the search for the youngster was "very much ongoing", while The Sun newspaper has offered a £25,000 reward for information that leads to police finding Tia.

Hundreds of "missing" posters have been distributed around New Addington and Tia's face looks out from most local shops and noticeboards.

At a bus stop close to her grandmother's house in The Lindens, well-wishers left dozens of burning candles and tealights with hand-written signs asking for Tia to be brought home.