A woman who vanished 52 years ago has been found alive and well after police issued a grainy photograph in an appeal.
The discovery of Sheila Fox, now 68, brings to an end one of the UK’s longest-running missing person investigations.
At the end of December, West Midlands Police published a renewed appeal to help find Ms Fox, who went missing from Coventry in 1972.
A single photo of Ms Fox from around the time of her disappearance was found by officers investigating and published on the force’s website and social media.
Within hours of the appeal, members of the public got in touch with information which led the team to her.
Ms Fox was confirmed to be safe and well and living in another part of the country.
Detective Sergeant Jenna Shaw, from the Cold Case Investigation Team, said: “We're absolutely delighted to have found Sheila after more than five decades.
“We searched through every piece of evidence we could find and managed to locate a photo of Sheila.
“We are a small team of officers and I’d like to recognise the work of DC Shaun Reeve, who managed to resolve this case with help from the public.
“Every missing person has a story, and their families and friends deserve to know what happened to them and, hopefully, be reunited with them.”
The force said that advances in forensics and technology had enabled its cold case investigations team to pursue leads which were not available at the time that the cases were first reported.
