Police and specialist search teams are scouring woodland off the A2 as fears grow for the safety of a 73-year-old dementia sufferer.

Paulina Manfredini was last seen at the Gate Services in Dunkirk at 2.45pm on Saturday – almost eight hours before she was reported missing.

Officers and the Kent Search and Rescue team have been combing the Blean Woods and other wooded areas off the A2.

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Now officers have broadened the search to the Preston Street and Stone Street areas of Faversham.

Canterbury area commander Ch Insp Mitchell Fox, who is overseeing the search, said: "We are very concerned for this lady's safety and welfare.

"She has not been since Saturday and we have had two very cold nights since then and we are expecting another cold night tonight.

"We do not know how she got to the Gate Services. We don't think she came by bus, but she may have walked. Despite her age, she often walked."

Ch Insp Fox said that Mrs Manfredini's bank accounts and cards had not been used and she does not have a mobile phone to trace her activity.

Police know that she was in London Road, Canterbury, about a mile from her home in Downs Road on the Hales Place Estate at 12.20pm on Saturday.

Insp Terry Chuter added: "There have been no confirmed sightings of Mrs Manfredini since Saturday afternoon.

“The temperature dropped below freezing on Saturday night and there was heavy rain on Sunday night. We are extremely concerned for her welfare.”

Mrs Manfredini is known to have links to the Medway towns, Margate and Sittingbourne.

Police believe she may have potentially headed towards an address in the Darland Avenue area of Gillingham.

Anyone with information should call police on 101, quoting 05-1265.