THE family of an asthmatic toddler who disappeared with her 13-year-old half-sister were overjoyed last night when the pair were found safe and well.

Clair Smith had been missing in the past for up to ten days, but had never taken her two-year-old sister Rebecca with her before.

Last night, police said that the girls had been found in the Darlington area unharmed.

The last time the girls were seen was on Tuesday evening when they left the home of their grandparents, George and Anne Smith, in St Andrews Street, Darlington.

Clair told them she was taking Rebecca to visit an uncle in Darlington Memorial Hospital, but they never arrived.

Police were alerted and mounted a search using a spotter plane to scan beaches and amusement arcades in Redcar - where Clair had gone in the past.

The girls' father, also called George, 40, is divorced from Clair's mother. He lives with Rebecca and his partner, the two-year-old's mother, Jean-ette Duff, 26.

Ms Duff: "The last 24 hours has been hell, but it is just great to have them back again. We are all extremely relieved."

The couple, of Pensbury Street, Darlington, were particularly worried because Clair did not take any money or nappies and bottles for Rebecca.

Rebecca also has breathing problems and uses inhalers, but Clair left those behind.

Clair, who attends Longfield School, has lived with her grandparents since she was eight-years-old.

In the last ten months, she has gone missing five times, fare-dodging on trains to get to Plymouth - where her mother lives - Walthamstow in London, Hartlepool and Redcar.

The last time she disappeared was two weeks ago when she was gone for ten days and claimed she had been in Redcar, living on the beach.