Celebrities including Stephen Fry and Rio Ferdinand have taken to social networking sites to publicise the disappearance of a 14-year-old girl nearly three weeks ago.
Serena Beakhurst, also known as Serena Dennis, disappeared on December 15 when she left her Tulse Hill home in south London at 9am.
Family and friends of Serena, a former pupil at Battersea Technology School, started a Facebook group on Christmas Eve to gain public support for someone they describe as “a happy teenager from a loving and stable home.”
More than 2,200 people have joined the ‘Please help find Serena Beakhurst‘ Facebook group, with many changing their profile pictures to images of the teenager.
With no sign of the youngster, celebrities have now taken to Twitter to publicise her disappearance.
Stephen Fry, Rio Ferdinand, Simon Pegg, Matt Lucas and Gordon Brown’s wife Sarah are among the famous faces who have sent out messages to their millions of followers on the micro-blogging website.
For much of Sunday and Monday, the name Serena Beakhurst was one of the top trending phrases on the popular social network.
Many friends of Serena feel let down by authorities, claiming the Metropolitan Police hasn’t suitably focussed its efforts to finding the missing teenager.
Facebook Group member Leah Longoria wrote: “Serena’s community feel that there is a distinct lack of care and attention by police, and a solidly disproportionate level of policing given to this missing child than that we have seen in the past for others who do not hail from urban, mixed-race families.”
The police have refuted claims they have stalled their investigation by referring to Serena as a ‘runaway’ rather than a missing person.
A spokesperson for the Met said: “The police take every missing person case extremely seriously and dedicate relevant resources.
“We are continuing to appeal for assistance in tracing Serena Beakhurst.”
Serena is described as mixed race with light skin tone, 5′ 3″ in height, of slim build and with shoulder length hair. She was last seen wearing a black leather jacket with a gold zipper.
Anyone with information should call Lambeth Missing Persons’ Unit on 020 8649 3423 or 0300 123 1212, quoting reference number: 10MIS049123.
She is beautiful. Hope she is safe.