Police have escalated the search for a missing school girl this evening after the 14-year-old vanished from her home yesterday.

Alice Gross, a past pupil of Mayfield Primary School and current pupil of Brentside High school , left her home yesterday afternoon carrying just her mobile phone.

She was last seen at 1pm on Thursday, August 28 at her home address in Hanwell. There have been no sightings of her since.

The last contact with Alice was at 3pm and she was expected back home at 6pm but never returned.

Detective Sergeant David Stokes said: "Her disappearance is totally out of character as she has never been missing before. She left her money, bank cards and Oyster card at home after just apparently walking out with no explanation as to where she was going. She has had no contact with her small network of friends or family since. Her phone is turned off which is very unusual and her Facebook page is inactive. There have been no sightings of her or CCTV footage caught of her which adds to the seriousness of the situation.

"We are flooding the area with specialist officers, dog handlers and helicopters. Every resource that we have got that isn't being deployed on 999 calls is being used to search for Alice. The worry is that she maybe lying hurt somewhere. We are combing Kensington and Chelsea Cemetery and Hanwell Cemetery which her house is close to, as well as her garden and outbuildings in the area as well as the canal and the river. We are extremely worried now as it is over 24 hours since she went missing. She has always made contact with her mother if she's out so this is very out of character for her. 

"We are appealing to anyone in the area who walk their dogs or frequent the cemeteries and parks to keep their eyes peeled for her."

Alice is white, 5ft 2ins tall and of slim build, she has shoulder length light brown hair. When she was last seen she was wearing dark blue jeans, a dark green lacy cardigan and denim blue Van's shoes.  She may have tartan-framed spectacles with her. 

Police are extremely concerned about Alice who has health concerns and would urge anyone with information on her to call Ealing Missing Persons Unit on 0208 246 1018, 101 or Missing People on 116000 quoting Merlin 14MIS030649

This story has been corrected to reflect correct primary school and time of last contact.