THE mother of a teenager who sparked a major police hunt when he went missing during a school trip to Yorkshire has spoken of her ordeal.

As reported in last night's BEN, Sharples School pupil Daniel Bretherton was missing for six hours on the Yorkshire moors.

His mum Mary Mather said: "Daniel has told us in an interview at school that he was upset by a group of boys he said were picking on him throughout the morning.

"He has told us the reason he ran off was that he was chased and then when he'd got away he was too scared to go back. Daniel has been really upset by all this and of course we were very worried."

Daniel, aged 13, walked for miles across moorland from the National Coal Mining Museum at Overton near Wakefield to the outskirts of Huddersfield.

There he phoned home and the police hunt for him was halted.

Sharples School head teacher Bob Atkinson listened to Daniel's explanation yesterday as part of an internal investigation into the incident.

Mr Atkinson spoke to staff, pupils and parents to gather all the facts before deciding if any action is necessary.

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