'Somebody took our daughter', say parents of Leah Croucher.

For 12 long months John and Claire Croucher have waited, to no avail, for a clue or sign that will end the agony of wondering what has happened to their daughter..

They want to believe she ran away, that she is happy and well but for some inexplicable reason does not want any contact with her family.

But they can't. The Leah that would turn her back on her parents and siblings and plan such a complex and hurtful deceit is simply not the Leah they knew and brought up for 19 years.

"She's shy. She loves her home, her books. she loves us. She wouldn't do it to us," says Claire, battling back the tears.

"And if she was planning to run away, why is her bank account still untouched? She has thousands of pound in there that she'd saved. Why hasn't she touched it? Why would she not tell us she's safe?"

She and John constantly relive the days and hours before Leah went missing, racking their brains to remember anything unusual or significant about her behaviour that could indicate she was planning such a momentous vanishing act.

But there's nothing, absolutely nothing, they say. Right down to joking about the silly Valentine cushion her dad bought her mum for a joke and moaning that Just Eat sent her an omelette instead of the chicken curry she ordered for dinner, Leah was her perfect lovable self, say her parents. Surely they would know if she was plotting to leave them?

The most painful question for the Crouchers is that, if Leah is alive and free to move around, why wouldn't she turn up to the funeral of her beloved brother Haydon, who took his own life three months ago because he couldn't bear the pain of Leah being missing.

To John, Claire and Leah's sister Jade, Leah's absence on the day of the funeral clinched the belief they would rather not have - that "something bad" happened to her on Friday February 15 last year.

“We have spent 365 sleepless nights saying goodnight to an empty room. Wishing, praying for a sign. Any sign that she chose this. Three hundred and sixty five days of terror and nightmares wondering if our innocent, naive, shy little girl is being treated inhumanely. Is she suffering somewhere? Or has that suffering ended now? Like Haydon’s has ended," they said.

“The passage of time is not making this any easier. All of her family and friends are suffering with us. The loss of two of our children is unbearable. We need answers."

Faced with the other choices - abduction by someone Leah knew, abduction by a stranger or suicide, the least wretched choice for the family is the first. They are still clinging onto hope that she is being held captive somewhere and cannot get out to contact them.

They firmly believe that if Leah has been taken, whether by someone she knew or not, it would not have been a solitary act for the abductor.

"Somebody else must know or suspect what they've done. Maybe a family member or friend is protecting the culprit. It could be a mother, a wife or a sister and I am appealing to them, woman to woman, to do the right thing and say something."

Leah's sister Jade had made an equally poignant plea..

She said: “I’ve have appealed over and over again during this last year and I plead on this twelve month anniversary of Leah’s disappearance. Having opened my heart to the whole country, I am asking simply for someone to open their heart to me. Hear my pleas, hear my pain, put an end to the torture this has brought to my entire family.

"If you do have any information about Leah’s disappearance or knowledge of those who may have had any involvement have a look into your own heart. Ask yourself if your loved ones could live with this continued pain.”

Meanwhile the Crouchers have warned they will never stop looking for Leah whose 20th birthday was in August.

In a family statement they said: “The only way of shutting us up is for Leah herself to contact Missing People by calling 116 000, or walking into a police station with her ID.

“We are in this for as long as it takes. We will never forget our daughter. We will never give up on finding out what happened to her. We will never give up looking."

The family has plans for more fundraising for the Missing People charity and also Papyrus, which helps suicidal young people. So far they have done Leah and Haydon proud by raising over £9,200.

To Leah herself, her mum. dad and Jade say : “Leah, if you are out there watching or reading this and you really don't want to come home, which we all find impossible to believe, call Missing People or pop into a police station. Let us know you are safe and happy. Let us know you wanted this separation from everyone who knows and loves you. It will hurt us deeply - yes.

“But we will find a way to cope with it. But the way it is now, none of us can rest. All of us are worried sick. We cannot give up on looking for you. We miss you. We want you back. We love you so much. Our world has come crashing down around us.

“Come home Leah - if you can, Please.”

If you know anything at all about anybody who may have taken Leah, you can quickly and easily give information without revealing your name or identity. Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 will listen to what you have to say and not ask any questions.

The reward has now been upped to £10,000.