TEENAGE sweethearts who have been missing since Friday may be in London, police said last night.

Officers revealed that a note had been left with a friend of Paul Baxter, 16, and his 14-year-old girlfriend Christine Rylance, who come from South Tyneside.

Inspector Rob Coulson, of Northumbria Police, said the couple may have been planning their escape for several weeks.

The two were last seen at the gates of Christine's school in South Shields on Friday afternoon and they were in Newcastle that night.

Police believe the couple, pictured, travelled to York the next morning and might have been heading for London by train.

Officers had thought the couple had gone to either Alton Towers theme park or Blackpool.

Paul, of Boldon, South Tyneside, a college student, met Christine in February through a local gospel band.