Hunt for missing midwife Samantha Eastwood moves to rural area

Detectives investigating the disappearance of midwife Samantha Eastwood are carrying out searches in a rural area of Stoke-on-Trent.

Specialist search teams are looking at an area of Caverswall as part of their search for the 28-year-old, Staffordshire Police said.

Officers have cordoned off a section of land and are carrying out painstaking searches in their effort to look for clues, the force added.

Ms Eastwood was last seen in her uniform leaving work at Royal Stoke Hospital at 7.45am on Friday July 27.

Her colleagues raised concerns at 7.20pm on the same day after she failed to show up for her next shift.

A 32-year-old Stoke-on-Trent man was arrested but has since been released under investigation, Staffordshire Police said.

The force said neighbours reported hearing a scream in the vicinity of the midwife's house at about 2pm on the day she went missing.

Detective Superintendent Simon Duffy from the force's major and organised crime department said: "Today's extensive searches are part of the ongoing investigation, which has officers and staff working round the clock in an effort to find anything which brings us closer to finding Samantha.

"I am calling on any member of the public with any information, however small and insignificant it may seem.

"Have you seen any unusual or suspicious activity, including parked vehicles in laybys in rural locations around the Stoke-on-Trent/North Staffordshire area?"

Ms Eastwood's sister, Gemma Eastwood, made a tearful appeal for help in tracing her on Friday, saying: "We miss you very much, we need you home where you belong.

"If she's out there, or anyone knows where she is, please get in touch.

"Get her home."

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