MISSING schoolgirls Charlene Lunnon and Lisa Hoodless were found safe and well today.

A 45-year-old man has been arrested.

The girls were discovered in Eastbourne and were taken straight to Battle police station.

Their families cried tears of joy when they heard the news at lunchtime.

Charlene's father Keith Lunnon said: "It's the greatest news I could possibly have wished for."

Both families were being reunited with the children this afternoon.

The ten-year-old friends were discovered in a flat in Kingfisher Drive, on Eastbourne's Langney Estate, at 11am, three days after they disappeared while walking to school near their homes in St Leonards, Hastings.

Aman was arrested at the address and taken to Hastings police station for questioning.

Police sealed the flat for forensic examination later.

Both girls were expected to be taken this afternoon to special interview suites for physical examination and interview.

It is not known whether they had been assaulted but police suspect they were taken to the flat against their will.

They were discovered by officers who called at the flat on another matter.

They had no idea the missing girls were there and were shocked when they discovered them as they entered the lounge.

Their delighted head mistress Anne Hanney, from Christchurch School, St Leonards, said: "We are overjoyed. Our prayers have been answered. We couldn't feel more for their families."

News that the girls had been found safe and well came just minutes after police held a Press conference saying they feared they had been abducted.

Concerned about the length of their disappearance without any confirmed sightings, Det Supt Jeremy Paine, leading the inquiry, said: "As time goes by, the possibility that they have been abducted against their will is more likely.

"This is a line that we have always been aware of. However I am hopeful that we will find them alive."

Before the search was called off today, he said: "Time is working against us but we will never lose hope."

Friends of both families also believed the girls were being held against their will, saying they would have at least called home by today if they were able to.

Kym Geen, 40, of Sunningdale Drive, St Leonards, a close friend of Julie and Andy Hoodless, said this morning: "It's been more than 72 hours now and although we are still hopeful we are beginning to wonder if Lisa is being heldsomewhere.

"It is totally out of character for Lisa to run away and even more so not to keep in contact with her mum and dad. They are both devastated."

Yesterday, officers examined work by the girls, including diary-like journals and articles written at the end of last term about getting lost.

PC Phil Mears, a school liaison officer, said: "Everyone at the school was trying to keep business as usual.

"We removed some work by Charlene and Lisa, including newspaper articles, some of which are about getting lost and that kind of thing."

Father Richard Harper, chairman of school governors, has spent the last two days at the school together with a psychologist.

Atemporary chapel was set up and children wrote their own prayers before they heard Charlene and Lisa were safe.

As fellow pupils and classmates of the missing girls arrived at the school today they found a large yellow ribbon attached to the school gate.

Anotice pinned beneath read: "This ribbon is a symbol of our prayers for the safe return of Charlene and Lisa."

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