POLICE forensic teams have begun searching a remote area of woodland near Mautby following a tip-off that missing Great Yarmouth teenager Simon Everitt may have been assaulted there.

POLICE forensic teams have begun searching a remote area of woodland near Mautby following a tip-off that missing Great Yarmouth teenager Simon Everitt may have been assaulted there.

A sugar beet field at Church Farm in Mautby Lane was sealed off yesterday (Thursday) evening by officers acting on evidence supplied by a 40-year-old woman who had been re-arrested in connection with the teenager's disappearance.

The forensic investigation is centred on an area of trees 300 metres along a dirt path where a white tent has been erected.

Det Chief Insp Steve Strong who is leading the murder hunt, believed 17-year-old Simon may have been brought to the secluded rural spot “against his will” on the evening of June 7 shortly after he was last seen outside James Paget University Hospital at 11pm.

A silver mountain bike Simon was riding at the time he was last seen was recovered by police in Corton yesterday (Thursday) and DCI Strong believed it may have been dumped on the night he was taken to Mautby.

He said although a body had not been recovered, Simon's family had been prepared for the worst and though they remained hopeful the Yarmouth College student was still alive, they had “accepted what the police had told them.”

He added: “Of course, the family are very concerned about the situation and are very hopeful he will be found alive, but we have given them the brief that sadly Simon may not be with us anymore. They are accepting what we tell them and of course everyone hopes for a happy ending. Those hopes will remain.”

DCI Strong added the bike was in the process of being forensically examined.

Simon's father Vince Everitt has been placing posters in shops and businesses in the Yarmouth area in an effort to track down his karaoke-mad son.

This week, he told the Mercury: “All we want is that if people have done something to Simon then tell the police. If they have not, then fair enough, then give us some information we can go on. We need information - something that gives us a bit of hope now.”

The police's major investigation team launched a full scale murder enquiry after receiving a call from a member of the public on Sunday, June 15.

Mr Everitt last saw his son on June 3 when he visited home and told him he had been staying on friends' couches.

Anyone with information relating to the disappearance should phone the police on 0845 4564567.