Missing Sheepridge teen Alex Ward home safe and well

Aug 21 2009 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

RELIEVED relatives of missing teenager Alex Ward cried tears of joy as she returned home.

A major missing person hunt was called off when the 16-year-old arrived back in Sheepridge in the early hours of yesterday.

Thousands of people had offered their support to her family during the week since she disappeared from her Trafalgar Close home.

Mum Josie got a call from a neighbour when Alex walked into their house at about 2am.

She said: “I couldn’t get round to their house quickly enough.

“I hugged her and cried and told her how much we loved her and how much we had missed her and that she was never to do anything like that again.”

Alex, who is due to study childcare at Kirklees College in September, went missing after going to bed at about 10pm on Wednesday, August 12.

In the following days, her family searched canals and woodland and made emotional pleas for help in the Examiner and on radio and television.

There were various sightings of her across Huddersfield.

More than 4,000 people joined a group on social networking website Facebook called Help Find Alex. Another website was set up devoted to the search.