The Girls Who Were Found Alive
Chain of eventsWhat happened
In Hastings in January 1999, every parent's greatest fear came true. Two ten-year-old girls, Charlene Lunnon and Lisa Hoodless, went missing as they walked to school in St Leonards. Their disappearance dominated the headlines. Now they give their first-hand accounts of how it feels to be kidnapped and feared to be dead – but come back and survive.
Charlene and Lisa had been snatched by 46-year-old Alan Hopkinson, a predatory paedophile who had previously served time for abducting an eleven-year-old girl. He had bundled them into the boot of his car and driven them along the south coast to his flat in Eastbourne.
Over four days the country watched as a huge police hunt failed to turn up any clues. They had been bombarded with possible leads and sightings but most placed the girls in Hastings, and some school friends suggested Charlene and Lisa had talked of running away.
Erratic behaviour
Hopkinson forced the girls to watch news reports of their abduction as Charlene's father, Keith, made an appeal to the kidnapper. Over the days Hopkinson's behaviour changed, becoming even more erratic and disturbed. At one stage he threw Lisa and Charlene into the boot of his car and drove them to the notorious suicide spot Beachy Head. The girls feared the worst, but Hopkinson decided to risk keeping the girls for longer.
How the girls were saved
At the same time, an unconnected investigation within Sussex Police was about to unwittingly start closing the net on the girls' kidnapper. Along the coast in Eastbourne, a schoolgirl had complained she'd been sexually assaulted by a man over several months. The man's name was Alan Hopkinson and the police were preparing to pay him a visit.
As the girls sat in the lounge comforting one another, the silence was broken by a knock at the door. Hopkinson was met by officers from Sussex Police. They'd come to arrest him for the allegations of sexual abuse made against him in the Eastbourne school girl case and they had absolutely no idea that he was holding Lisa and Charlene as prisoners.
The sentence
On May 28, 1999, Alan Hopkinson was given nine life sentences and imprisoned. As a direct result of Lisa and Charlene's abduction, new guidelines were introduced to ensure parents and schools communicated when children were absent.
But there would be a dark twist for Lisa and Charlene. While the country rejoiced at their rescue, their own relationship was indelibly marked by the ordeal and for six years it tore their friendship apart.
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