Police say a 'deliberately dismembered' foot found 130 miles from where missing teen Leah Croucher disappearead does not belong to her.
Thames Valley Police said a forensic examination had confirmed the foot did not belong to the 19-year-old from Milton Keynes, Buckingshamshire, who vanished on her walk to work in February.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Howard confirmed there was no link between the investigations.
He told Mirror Online: “Thames Valley Police can confirm that following forensic examination of a dismembered foot discovered in New Waltham, Humberside it is not that of the missing teenager Leah Croucher.
"No links have been identified between the Humberside Police investigation and Leah’s disappearance.”
Reports last night suggested police were 'considering a link' between the grisly find and the missing teen.
Leah vanished while walking to work on Buzzacoot Lane, Furzton, Milton Keynes, just after 8am on February 15.
The severed foot was found left by a footpath 130 miles away from where Leah was last seen.
Reports yesterday quoted DCI Howard saying investigators were keeping an "open mind" on links between the two cases.
Reports said the foot likely belonged to a woman aged over 16 who was around 160cm tall (5ft 2 in).
Leah is described as 5ft 2in, of slim build, and below shoulder-length brown hair.
She was last seen wearing a black coat, black skinny jeans black high-top Converse trainers, a grey hoodie bearing the Stewartby Taekwondo logo, and she was carrying a small black rucksak.
Her family this month issued desperate pleas for Leah to "come home."
On April 15 police revealed three witnesses believed they may have seen her between 9.30am and 11.15am on the day she went missing, looking "angry, upset and crying."
On May 10, her dad, John Croucher, from Milton Keynes, issued heartbreaking words of thanks for people working to help him find his girl.
He wrote on his Facebook page, where he is appealing for people to report any sightings of Leah, of the relentless pain of constant questions about his daughter's whereabouts going unanswered.
He wrote: " As a family we all have days when we fool ourselves into thinking we have found a way to cope with our new reality.
"We concentrate on work, shopping etc. Leah is still there at the front of our mind, in our thoughts. We are still worrying about her. Its a quiet, relentless voice at the front of the brain. It's almost…bearable."
"The days when that voice is SCREAMING in your mind. SHOUTING the same old questions over and over.
"Blotting out everything else. Round and round in circles. We are drowning in despair. We just want to know WHY Leah didn't go to work on the 15th February.
"DID SHE CHOOSE TO VANISH? OR DID SOMEONE TAKE HER AGAINST HER WILL? IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR SOME ANSWERS?
"Leah – we miss you soooo much!! Please if you are able, COME HOME. We are here for you – no matter what. Don't be scared. Don't stay away. We love you and need you here with us. COME HOME."
Leah was last seen by her parents on February 14, Valentine's Day, when they bid her goodnight at the family's Emerson Valley home.
Her phone was last used at 8.34am on the day of her disappearance.
Her parents say she followed her normal routine of getting up to work in Knowlhill, about two miles from the home.
She did not call in sick, and took no money or clothing with her.
Her parents have offered a £5,000 reward to find Leah. Their appeal said she had not told anyone of any plans to run away from home or say where she's going.
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