THE faded colour of the paper bears testament to its age.

But the police missing person bulletin is still as relevant today as when it was circulated 57 years ago.

For the small sheet of paper, issued on behalf of the then Lancashire Constabulary CID, details the disappearance of six-year-old Sheila Fox.

The remarkable piece of police history was kept by Bolton man Jack Vickers, whose father was stationed at the Great Lever police station as a Bolton district police sergeant when the little girl vanished.

And today Mr Vickers revealed how he had kept the one-time confidential "missing persons" bulletin, which he found after his father John's death in 1970.

Mr Vickers added: "As soon as I heard the news I found the piece of paper. When I heard they were digging the garden up to search for Sheila Fox I thought to myself that I had got something on that child."

The bulletin would have been circulated to police stations around the area within days of Sheila being reported missing.

The information sheet, marked "Confidential -- for police use only", provides a touching reminder of the "fresh-faced" young child who has never been found.

A passage reads: "Enquiries suggest the possibility that the girl may have been taken from the district."

The suspect was described as aged between 25 and 30, about 5ft 8ins tall, slim and with a long face and sharp features. He was clean shaven with dark brown hair and a pointed chin.

He was thought to have been dressed in a blue suit and wore a collar and tie and was riding a Roadster model bike, with a black enamel frame and upturned handlebars.

Scores of police officers would have received copies of the special bulletin, dated August 22, 1944, concerning Sheila's disappearance and important details of the suspect.