Father's worry over missing girl: 'I'm just relieved she's been found'

"I can't believe it really, but it's in the hands of the police, they've told me the inquiry is ongoing; I'm just relieved she's been found," said Alan Hamilton about his daughter Mary, 11. Photo / Supplied

In 24 hours Alan Hamilton went to hell and back.

After telling her father she was going to a friend's house his 11-year-old daughter Mary simply didn't return home.

By 5pm Alan started to worry. He scoured nearby streets, made phone calls. Three hours later she was still missing and he called Ashburton Police.

"I knew that she was at a friend's place but it seems she went off walking, but in the opposite way to home," he said.

Mary was last seen at about 5pm on Saturday in the Oxford St and Beach Rd area.

That call to police kicked off a search that ran through the night. It was the longest night of Hamilton's life.

While they searched he waited at home, waiting for a phone call to say she'd been found. It never came.

By Sunday morning he was fearing the worst, but then came the news he'd been desperately waiting for, Mary had been found.

That was at 9.30am, but it would be some time before father and daughter were reunited.

Late today Hamilton said he was "pretty upset" about the delay.

"I can't believe it really, but it's in the hands of the police, they've told me the inquiry is ongoing; I'm just relieved she's been found. Right now I'm just happy that she's fine. Police did a great job." he said.

Until he speaks to Mary, Hamilton said the reasons for her disappearance were still a mystery. He knows she was found in a street not far from her home and that she was with someone he did not know.

Hamilton said he lived alone with his daughter; he's looked after her since she was a baby.

Yesterday he was being supported through the disappearance, the aftermath of finding her and the long wait for her return home, by family from Oamaru and friends from Ashburton.

Police were releasing scant details around where Mary was found or the circumstances surrounding her disappearance other than to say a check on CCTV footage from a 'local shop" helped identify a vehicle that had given the girl a lift and that from there she was found at a safe location.

- Ashburton Guardian