Police reveal how missing schoolgirl Lillia, 13, was found safe and well after huge 8-day search

Police reveal how missing schoolgirl Lillia, 13, was found safe and well after huge 8-day search The disappearance of 13-year-old Lillia sparked a huge search across Greater Manchester - police have revealed how they 'combed through hours of CCTV footage' before she was found Police have shared new details of how a missing 13-year-old was found safe, after an agonising eight day search. Lillia, whose disappearance sparked a huge missing persons investigation, was 'brought home safely' after she was spotted in Manchester city centre by police officers on Saturday. Before she was found, Lillia was last seen in Bolton on September 11. Over the next few days she was seen on CCTV travelling on buses across Greater Manchester and at a McDonalds in Piccadilly Gardens, before being spotted at Piccadilly bus station on Monday night. Greater Manchester Police's Chief Supt Helen Critchley, District Commander for Bolton, said a photo of the girl had been circulated around the force, and that on Saturday an on-duty officer "noticed someone that looked like her and engaged and ascertained it was Lillia". Explaining how officers tracked Lillia in the days before she was found, a spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: "This evening [Saturday September 19] while out on a dedicated proactive patrol in the city centre, our officers located missing Lillia. The 13-year-old, who has been missing since Friday September 11 was last sighted at Manchester Piccadilly bus station on Monday September 14 at 10.36am before she was found. "From when she originally went missing and was last seen on Ainsworth Lane in Bolton, we have not stopped in our pursuit to find Lillia having tracked her movements across Greater Manchester since that point. We had numerous sightings of her using the bus network to move around, the first sighting since she went missing on that Friday 11 September, was the following day when she boarded the 247 bus at the Trafford Centre. "Following that, we saw her enter the McDonald's on Market Street in Piccadilly Gardens on Sunday September 13 at roughly 8.20pm. Before our last two confirmed sightings of her getting on the number 36 bus from Salford around 10am on Monday September 14, before the final sighting of her walking through Manchester Piccadilly bus station at 10.36am that same morning. "Officers and staff, alongside partners, have supported the investigation from the outset by combing through hours of CCTV footage, handing out hundreds of missing leaflets to ensure everyone was aware our appeal. We also issued multiple social media appeals, and worked with key media outlets. "Lillia's mum and the rest of her family have been updated in relation to these developments."