Sonar used to map riverbed in hunt for boy

POlice Searching for the missing seven-year-old Daniel Entwistle were using sonar yesterday to map the river bed where they fear the young boy's body may be lying.

The equipment will provide a computer image of the mouth of the river Yare in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, near where Daniel went missing four days ago.

Detective Superintendent Julian Gregory, who is leading the inquiry, said they had received between 400 and 500 calls from the public in connection with the investigation but had no new leads. "The longer he is away the more we are worried. But there is still hope," he said.

Det Supt Gregory said Daniel's parents David, 41, and Paula, 30, had been "very helpful" and had been "in quite extensive talks with some officers and have been going through his life with a fine toothcomb to see if there's anything we can glean from that."

Known sex offenders in the area are being questioned but a major line of inquiry is that he fell into the Yare and was swept away. A spokesman for Norfolk police said last night that they believed Daniel was probably unable to swim. A bicycle believed to have belonged to the youngster was found abandoned by a harbour wall on the river.

Detectives released haunting video images of Daniel yesterday showing him at his parents' wedding in an effort to jog the memories of the public.

The camcorder footage showed Daniel at the register office ceremony of his parents in November last year. Daniel is shown cuddling up to his mother who is wearing a white wedding dress as she sits with the marriage register in front of her. Also in the clip were his brothers Antony, 10, and John, two. The three were wearing matching checked shirts.

A candle was lit and messages with drawings, poems and prayers by dozens of pupils from the seven-year-old's school were placed at St James Church, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

Ten-year-old Rachel Nixon, a pupil at Greenacre First, Middle and Nursery School lit the small candles on the altar. Rachel had built up a close relationship with Daniel for whom she acted as a "buddy" at school at lunchtimes, taking him to clubs and keeping an eye out for him.

In a plea for the safe return of her friend, she said: "Come home, Daniel, because we are all worried. We miss you."