Grey hoodie at centre of ongoing Leah Croucher search in Milton Keynes was hanging from TREE branch near lake

The father of Leah Croucher has spoken out about the sighting of the mysterious grey hoodie that could be the first and only clue about what has happened to his daughter.
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Leah was wearing a grey hooded jumper emblazoned with the log and words 'Stewartby Taekwondo' on the morning she disappeared exactly eight months ago.

A witness recently told police she remembered seeing an item of clothing matching that description during a walk round Bletchley's Blue Lagoon lake in February this year, just after Leah vanished.

This prompted a major 10-day search of the area, complete with divers and tracker dogs, which is still ongoing.

A reported sighting of the grey hooded top Leah was wearing when she vanished has sparked a major police search at the Blue Lagoon in MKA reported sighting of the grey hooded top Leah was wearing when she vanished has sparked a major police search at the Blue Lagoon in MK
A reported sighting of the grey hooded top Leah was wearing when she vanished has sparked a major police search at the Blue Lagoon in MK

At first it was thought the witness spotted the hoodie in the lake, but police later confirmed this was wrong.

Today the MK Citizen can reveal the woman saw the hoodie hanging from a TREE – which means somebody else deliberately put it there.

Leah's dad John has thanked the witness for coming forward and said her information may be the 'first piece of the puzzle'.

He said: “Hopefully others follow her lead and come forward. Someone moved the hoodie from the tree. Someone else saw it. Someone maybe saw who put it there...Someone maybe saw our Leah.

Leah CroucherLeah Croucher
Leah Croucher

"Please speak up. Please come forward. We need you.”

Mr Croucher and his family have been waiting anxiously for news ever since the search started at the Blue Lagoon.

They revealed earlier this month that their hopes of finding their sweet, home-loving daughter alive were fading and they are convinced “something bad” must have happened to her.

“Spring gone, summer gone and now autumn approaches. To say we feel bleak today is an understatement. Winter blues seem a small worry compared to the worry we have carried as a family for the past eight months. Yet it adds to our depression anyway.

“Is our daughter out there in the cold and rain waiting for us to find her? Is she ever going to be found?”