THE parents of two young children who vanished from a Norfolk beach over a week ago last night returned to the place where they last saw their children - in a more dangerous part of the beach than they first thought.
Mr Kevin Loughlin and Ms Lynette Thornton, both 37, walked along Holme beach near Hunstanton, Norfolk, as police made renewed attempts to solve the mystery of what happened.
Mr Loughlin said "a million if onlys" had gone through their minds since the nightmare began last Sunday evening.
But he and his partner - they are both from Norwood, south London remained convinced that the children had not drowned and were still hopeful that they would see them again.
"If only we had not let them run away, if only we had gone to another beach that day, if only we had not come here on holiday," Mr Loughlin said. "But we're just trying to stay positive and hopeful that we will see them again."
Mr Loughlin said he had returned to the beach with police late last week and had been able to pinpoint more exactly where the family had settled on the sand and where Jodi (6) and Tom (4) were last seen.
Police tonight said the spot - Gore Point - was about half a mile from where it had first been thought the family sat, but a spokesman said it had not affected the inquiry because that area had been thoroughly searched anyway.
A local tide expert, Mr Geoff Needham, said later that the sands around Gore Point would be a far more dangerous area.
A deep channel could easily lead to the children being cut off by the incoming tide, he said. The spot was much closer to the main channel leading to Thornham harbour, which could reach a depth of 20 feet. Because the sands around Gore Point were one of the most isolated spots on the beach, it was much less likely anyone would have seen children in difficulties.
Mr Needham, a fisherman, former lifeboatman and chairman of Holme parish council, said sand dunes on that section of the beach were more prone to collapse because they had been damaged by last winter's high tides.
Ms, Thornton, explaining her certainty that Tom and Jodi had not even reached the water, let alone drowned, said: "It took us a good four minutes to get down to the water's edge when we were looking for them.
"So I don't think they would have had time to get down to the sea. They just went off to play and, after that, who knows what happened to them?"