Samantha Eastwood: Rural searches for missing midwife - BBC News
Police are combing rural areas of Staffordshire in the search for 28-year-old Samantha Eastwood.
Samantha Eastwood did not turn up for her night shift at the hospital

Police searching for a midwife who has been missing for a week are combing rural areas of Staffordshire.

Samantha Eastwood, 28, was last seen leaving Royal Stoke University Hospital at 07:45 BST on 27 July and did not return later for her night shift.

Specialist search teams from Staffordshire Police have cordoned off part of Caverswall village and are carrying out searches in the area.

Det Supt Simon Duffy said officers are "working round the clock".

Dozens of officers and police dogs began a search shortly after 09:00 BST in fields near Tickhill Lane in the village - which is about 10 miles from Stoke-on-Trent.

Police said officers are working "to find anything which brings us closer to finding Samantha"

Uniformed officers are using sticks to search farmland and woodland in the area.

Those living near Tickhill Lane have told me there has been a heavy police presence around a disused quarry for the last two days.

One couple said police had asked to look at their CCTV recordings from the morning of 27 July between 09:00 and 11:00 BST, the morning Samantha Eastwood went missing.

A police helicopter was also seen on Friday night hovering over nearby woodland.

Specialist officers have been carrying out extensive finger tip searches through woodland and fields.

Police have also renewed appeals for members of the public to report sightings of vehicles parked in strange locations or isolated areas.

Local farmer Nigel Potts, 53, said he had seen police activity by a nearby disused quarry.

"It seems that that's where the main focus of the search is," he said. "They've been down here for three days."

On Friday, Ms Eastwood's sister Gemma made a tearful appeal, saying: "We miss you very much, we need you home where you belong."

The 26-year-old support worker described her sister as "warm and generous with a great sense of humour".

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Timeline of the search for missing Staffordshire midwife

Police said a scream was heard near Ms Eastwood's home in Stockton Brook, Stoke-on-Trent, at about 14:00 on the day she went missing and she has not used her bank cards since going missing.

Her car remains parked in her driveway.

The force is treating her case as a "high risk missing person".

It was revealed Ms Eastwood had been due to be married, but her engagement had broken off earlier this year.

In a Facebook post in July, Ms Eastwood advertised a "never worn" wedding dress for sale.

Police are combing a cordoned off area in Caverswall

A 32-year-old man from Stoke-on-Trent was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of kidnap, but has since been released under investigation.

Police are appealing for information about Ms Eastwood's purse which is missing from her home and has not been seen since she disappeared.

The Staffordshire force has also urged the public to report any sightings of vehicles parked in "strange locations", isolated areas or lay-bys.

Samantha Eastwood's Radley purse is missing and described by police as navy with a blue, pink and orange striped dog on the front

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.