Sick troll has been given police caution for pretending to be Leah Croucher say police

The officer in charge of the Leah Croucher investigation has spoken about sick trolls who have posted "malicious messages" about Leah Croucher on social media.

He said officers have had to speak to a small number of people directly and one person had been given a police caution for their actions.

"Essentially they created a fake profile pretending to be Leah," he said.

"Think about the impact that must have on Leah's family to receive a message from someone purporting to be their daughter or their sister."

"There are some people who are genuinely trying to help, but then you get these people who want to focus on rubbish that just isn't true."

Leah's parents have also spoken about the many rumours circulating on social media about their daughter.

.They said: "Our family read everything that is written about Leah, both in the press and on social media.

"We are aware of the fake profiles that have been made claiming that Leah was pregnant and has run away... aware of the speculation that she is buried on farmland on Eaton Bray, aware that people are saying that she ran after married, older Muslim men as she had a thing for them.

"We find this upsetting, hurtful and disrespectful. None of this is true, all of it is vicious rumour and speculation.

"We would appreciate that if people have nothing pleasant to say, that they say nothing at all.

"Our daughter has done nothing to deserve this and neither have her family, who are forced to tolerate this vile behaviour."

DCI Howard has today addressed the rumours about Leah's disappearance being connected with a property in Eaton Bray.

He said: "I am also aware of another image that has been circulated in the media and community groups suggesting a person being sighted in a barn at a property in Eaton Bray, Bedfordshire. We are also aware of other speculation on social media of Leah being linked to this property.

“We were passed this photograph which we investigated using specialist CCTV viewers who reviewed and analysed the image thoroughly.

“We also thoroughly investigated the location in question, and we can categorically rule out that this is Leah in the image. A detailed investigation of the property and the barn has provided no evidence of Leah being linked to or having been at that location.”