Police Think Missing Wimbledon Schoolgirl Is In Poland

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Teenager didn't arrive at school, but travelled across the Channel

Detectives are investigating the disappearance of a 13-year-old Wimbledon girl who they believe has travelled to Poland with a friend of her mother's.

Serena Alexander-Benson was last seen by her father leaving their home in Wimbledon at around 7.50am on Friday (May 25). She was dressed in her predominantly green school uniform and had told her father she was going to school, but she did not arrive.

Police enquiries have established that Serena left the UK at Folkestone later that morning on a EuroTunnel train. She was travelling in a car with a female friend of her mother's who is a Polish national, who lives in London.

CID officers based at Wandsworth are investigating. Active lines of inquiry are being pursued by officers, working with the National Crime Agency and the Polish authorities.

Detectives are not releasing further details at this stage of the route Serena and the woman have taken, nor of how it has been established that they are in Poland, where Serena's mother lives.

The Met Police said this stage, the priority of officers is to confirm Serena's exact whereabouts and confirm she is safe. Any potential offences will be considered in due course.

May 28, 2018