A message was sent to a friend of a runaway British teenager saying she had arrived in France where she is believed to have eloped with her maths teacher.
It marked the last contact since 15-year-old Megan Stammers and 30-year-old Jeremy Forrest caught a ferry to the Continent last week, sparking a cross-Channel search.
The message was sent to one of her good friends saying she was in France but did not come from her own phone, a senior police officer revealed.
The disclosure was made as the teenager’s mother and stepfather, Danielle Wilson and Martin Stammers, made an emotional appeal at a news conference for her safe return.
Chief Inspector Jason Tingley, of Sussex Police, said: “I can’t give a specific time or date but we know there was a message passed to one of her good friends to say she had arrived safely in France.
“I can’t say that message was from her but we believe it was. That gives us some comfort that she has arrived safely and she is in France. That’s our last contact.”
Last Thursday Megan asked her mother whether she could stay overnight at a friend’s house. Her mother said she agreed, gave her dinner money for school the following day - and Megan left.
But the following morning, her mother received a text message from her school, Bishop Bell C of E in Eastbourne, East Sussex where Mr Forrest teaches, saying she had failed to attend class.
Checks were made to see whether the friend she claimed to be sleeping over with was at school, and when it was confirmed that she was, alarm bells rang.
Her family revealed that Megan had been receiving extra-curricular maths lessons since before the summer.
But they did not suspect any relationship between her and Mr Forrest, a married amateur musician, who lives in Ringmer, near Lewes.
Mrs Wilson said: “There were a couple of subjects that she was struggling with and she was going to after-school extra tuition.
“One of them was maths, but that didn’t alert me because I knew it wasn’t one of her favourite subjects. I knew she struggled with it.
“For her to say that she was going to attend those classes was completely natural. Why would you think anything of it? She was not only attending maths but also science.”
Mr Stammers said Megan had never expressed any wish to visit France. He said: “She loves LA, she loves New York, but she has never mentioned Europe.”
They said it was “completely out of character” for her to disappear but police said they believe she has travelled willingly.
At the news conference at Sussex Police headquarters in Lewes, it emerged that the pair travelled out on a ferry on Thursday and were due to return to the UK yesterday but did not use their tickets.
Interpol, the UK Border Agency, the British Embassy in France and the French authorities are all working to help trace Megan.
Police believe that Megan and Mr Forrest either planned a short break and intended to return yesterday evening or that the plan to come home was devised as a “smokescreen” to enable them to spend longer together.
Mr Tingley said: “What is being played out is a romantic contact. There is nothing to say that we or her family should be concerned about the level of safety from him.
“We will be looking at the background of Jeremy Forrest in depth as one of the strands of the investigation.”
Chief Insp Tingley appealed for any members of the public who see the couple or Mr Forrest’s black Ford Fiesta, registration GJ08 RJO, to contact French or British police.
Terry Boatwright, the school’s executive head teacher, said: “The whole school community is deeply concerned for Megan and shocked by what has happened.
“The thoughts and prayers of us all are with Megan and her family at this time.
“We would urge her to get in touch with her family to let them know she is okay and we would echo the police’s call for anyone with information to contact them.”
PA