A GIRL of 15 missing from her home in Thanet for more than 12 months has been found safe and well.

Melissa Goddard had not been seen since April 29, 2003, when she left her foster home at Cliftonville, near Margate.

She was found by police in Gillingham late on Monday evening after a landlady saw a television appeal for information, and recognised her as one of her tenants.

A police spokeswoman said; “The woman did not know Melissa was missing, and phoned us as soon as she realised who it was.”

Police and social services returned Melissa to her home the same night. Earlier in the day her mother, Diane Waterfield, had made an emotional appeal for her to come home.

At a press conference she gave Melissa this message: “You are not in trouble. Your family, your nine brothers and sisters, and your friends all miss you and want you to come home.

“Your brother and sister are finding it hard to concentrate at school, and you have two new sisters you haven’t even seen yet.”

Mrs Waterfield was referring to her twin daughters, born in July, two months after their sister disappeared. Mrs Waterfield said it was difficult for her family and Melissa’s friends not to know what had happened to her.

“It has been very hard,” she said, “not knowing where she is, what she’s doing, if she’s well, and we want her to come home.”

Police said that although there had been no confirmed sightings of the teenager since November, they believed she had kept in regular contact with friends in the Margate area, although none had come forward to say they knew where she was.

The search had taken police as far as Manchester and the continent, after reported sightings, but all leads drew a blank.

The teenager has a history of running away, and she believed she might have been due to be moved to secure accommodation. But her mother and Kent Social Services insist that is no longer the case.

It is not yet known whether anyone will face criminal charges over Melissa’s disappearance.