Massive poster campaign prompts another potential sighting of Leah Croucher in Milton Keynes

The sighting is at ANOTHER lake, near her workplace
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Details of a potential sighting of Leah Croucher have already emerged as part of a huge poster campaign organised by a community group in Milton Keynes at the weekend.

This sighting, of a girl matching Leah's description and seeming to be "in a foul mood", is from the morning she disappeared.

Interestingly it was at Teardrop Lakes, which are about a mile away from Furzton Lake - the area that Leah's phone left the network at 8.34am on February 15 2019.

Leah CroucherLeah Croucher
Leah Croucher

Teardrop Lakes are in Knowhill, not far from 360 Play and close to where Leah worked in her admin job at DFC finance company.

Again, this could shift the previous timeline of Leah's disappearance and lead to more vital evidence and witness reports to help discover what happened to her that morning.

Last week the Citizen revealed how a previously unseen photograph had been discovered that could place Leah walking around Furzton Lake at 10.51am - some two and a half hours after the last recorded sighting of her on CCTV.

If this was Leah, it would mean she may have made a conscious decision not to arrive at work at 9am that morning and it opens up the question of whether she had perhaps arranged to meet somebody or someone had asked her to meet them.

Details have emerged of potential Teardrop Lakes sightingDetails have emerged of potential Teardrop Lakes sighting
Details have emerged of potential Teardrop Lakes sighting

It also leads to questions as to what she was doing for all that time out in the freezing cold.

The latest potential sighting could provide part of an answer. The details were sent to the 5,600-strong Facebook web sleuth group called Leah Croucher Disappearance - Community Investigation, which has just printed and distributed thousands of new updated posters asking for information.

A spokesman for the group said two people were out walking their dog around Teardrop Lakes between 9.30am and 10.30am on February 15 2019 when they saw a girl matching Leah's description.

They said 'good morning' to her as the approached but she did not respond.

Teardrop LakesTeardrop Lakes
Teardrop Lakes

"The girl appeared in a foul mood as she continued quickly in the opposite direction towards the Tear Drop Lakes car park. The dog walkers commented to each other about her mood," said a spokesman for the Facebook group.

"The only other thing they can recall about the day was the strong smell of marijuana from the car park.

They said: “It's pretty standard there but was stronger than usual that day."

There is no suggestion at all that Leah was smoking marijuana and she has no history of using drugs at all. But the fact is that someone nearby was smoking it.

The web sleuths spokesman said: "If this is Leah, this sighting means she went past her work before returning to Furzton Lake for the 10:51 sighting."

He added: "The dog walkers reported this to the police at the time and an officer attended but they have heard nothing since."

There are two other unconfirmed sightings of Leah at Furzton Lake that morning, between 9.30am and 10.35am. Witnesses say the girl seemed distressed at one stage and was texting on a phone. To fit in with this timescale, Leah would have had to been walking at speed, possibly angrily, to get to Teardrop Lakes and back between these sightings.

In a bid to solve the mystery, the Facebook group is now urging other people who were in the Teardrop Lakes area on that morning to rack their brains and look back on their social media and old photos for clues.

The MK Citizen has sought reassurance from police that all information given by the public about Leah has been investigated.

A police spokesman told us: "We can confirm that all of the information that the investigation team is in receipt of is being taken into consideration when investigating Leah’s disappearance.

"Every strand of information received is investigated thoroughly in context with the investigation as a whole, and as always, we would urge the public to contact the force with information either by visiting a police station, or reporting online or call 101, quoting 43190049929 or Operation Dawlish."

If people do not want to talk to police or wish to stay totally anonymous, they can call Crimestoppers for free on 0800 555 111.