A tearful father has told of his desperate search for his missing daughter after a Sussex woman recognised her from a TV programme.

Elias Kalantzis, 69, who lives in northern Greece, has flown to Brighton to look for his daughter Faye.

He is following new leads about her whereabouts after she was seen on TV by a Brighton woman who used to teach her.

Mr Kalantzis last had contact with his daughter in July 1999 when she asked him for huge sums of money and sounded distressed.

Faye, who is Greek but grew up in Australia, had spent seven years studying and teaching in Sussex.

Mr Kalantzis, who is in Brighton with his son Spiro, said: "My wife and I spoke to Faye at least every other week and we were always writing letters.

"She would reverse the charges to us and would chat for an hour or more.

"But her last three phone calls were very short. The charges were not reversed and I could tell she was very frightened.

"She asked for 30,000 Australian dollars and said she really wanted to go home to Australia.

"She would be saying 'I really need the money, I really need the money' but then the phone would go dead as if somebody else had cut it off.

"I have always helped her with money and told her I would book plane tickets but the phone would go dead. I have not spoken to her since."

Faye, now 36, spent most of her time in Brighton and lived in Islingword Road, Franklin Road, St Paul's Street, Viaduct Road and Founthill Road.

She studied modern Greek at the Connaught Adult Education Centre, Hove, in 1997 and worked in a elderly residential home in the Brighton area.

In 1998, she taught at the House of English in Kemp Town and enrolled on courses at Northbrook College, Worthing.

Faye also lived and worked in Haywards Heath.

Mr Kalantzis first came to Brighton early in 2000.

He contacted police who said they had limited powers because Faye was an adult and may have chosen to sever contact.

With few leads, Mr Kalantzis was forced to return home but he never gave up hope of finding his daughter.

He telephoned a Greek TV programme that specialises in finding missing people.

By chance, Maria Manka, of Stanford Avenue, Brighton, saw the programme while on holiday in Athens. She recognised Faye as one of her students from the Connaught centre.

She said: "I was in shock when I saw her and telephoned the programme. She is a wonderful girl who is very pretty with long, curly hair.

"I am in contact with people who studied with her and we are trying to piece things together.

"If Faye just wants to get in touch with me to say she is well, she can do so."

A Greek doctor also contacted the programme to say he met Faye in a cafe in Soho, London, in October 1999.

She told him she was working for a spiritual organisation with a spiritual leader but was not getting paid.

Armed with this new information, Mr Kalantzis and Spiro intend to extend their search to London.

They think Faye may have been forced to join a religious cult.

Mr Kalantzis said: "We would like to hear from people who knew her in Brighton or who knew if she was intending to go to London.

"We will do everything possible to find her. She is a lovely girl. We love her very much and we all want her back."

Anyone with information can send an email to derridada@excite.com or paulmnk.greece@virgin.net