Katrice Lee's Father Speaks After Arrest Made Over Her Disappearance

The father of Katrice Lee says the arrest of a person in connection with her disappearance 38 years ago has made it "feel raw".

The toddler from Hartlepool vanished from a supermarket near a British military base in Paderborn on her second birthday, 28 November 1981.

Military police reportedly began searching a terraced house in the Moredon area of Swindon on Monday.

Richard Lee, a retired Sergeant Major, told The Mirror he had been made aware that an arrest would be made.

"This arrest brings it all back and makes it feel raw," he said.

"As with parents in all cases of missing children, we want a happy ending but that might not be the case and we just hope we will get answers."

An Army spokesman refused to give the gender or age of the arrested person, nor what they had been arrested on suspicion of.

He said: "We can confirm that an arrest was made on 23 September by the Royal Military Police in connection with the disappearance of Katrice Lee in 1981.

"As this is an ongoing investigation we cannot comment further at this stage."

Royal Military Police launched a re-investigation, named Operation Bute, into Katrice's disappearance in 2012.

Last year, a forensic search took place on the bank of the River Alme, near where the toddler was last seen, but nothing was found.

Katrice was out shopping with her mother Sharon at the Naafi (British military supermarket) store, near to where her father, a soldier, was stationed.

Her mother realised in the checkout line she had forgotten crisps and asked Katrice's sister to watch her.

When she returned, in what she estimated was less than a minute, the toddler was gone.

Her sister said she had run after her and she believed they were together.