Mum missing with five daughters

A MISSING woman and her five daughters may be hiding from a nationwide police search in the Westcountry to prevent the girls being taken into care.

Natalie Bracht, 35, left her home in Sunderland on May 17 with her daughters – aged between five and 13 – when she learned they might be taken into foster care. The family was last spotted in the Dartmoor area almost five months ago.

Police have renewed their appeal for more information about the family's whereabouts, and are encouraging people to contact them if they have seen the family.

Miss Bracht, who moved to the North East in 2006 with her daughters from Dusseldorf in Germany, was judged by medical experts to be suffering from a personality disorder so there is concern for the welfare of the girls.

On the evening of June 27, a woman matching her description and accompanied by five children bought a bus ticket from Exeter to Moretonhampstead, arriving at 7.10pm. Police focused their search on the area, but they have still not located the family. Detective Chief Inspector Ian Bentham of Northumbria Police, who has been leading the search, said: "There's no indication that she's moved from the area. It's quite unusual to see a single woman with five girls, even more so if you combine that with a German accent.

"She has been known to change her appearance and that of her children, so we are asking people to be vigilant.

"I would appeal to those who may have been sheltering her to think about the safety and welfare of the children.

Before that sighting, it is believed Miss Bracht and her girls were living in an "eco-commune" known as Tinker's Bubble in Little Norton, near Yeovil, Somerset.

Police have now been granted a High Court order to name the girls for the first time. They are Manjuh Vossing, 13, Naomi Vossing, 12, Indira Bracht, 10, Naima Bracht, nine, and Margo Bracht, five.

All five girls are the subject of Interim Care Orders, which means they are legally in the care of the local authority while an assessment of the family is made.

Miss Bracht speaks good English, with a heavy German accent, and anyone with information is asked to call Northumbria Police on 03456 043 043.