A YOUNG woman has been reported missing after failing to return home from posting letters.

Mother-of-two Lindsay Atkinson, 26, from Broadway, Gateshead, left her home at 11am on Thursday to go Carr Hill Post Office, in Carr Hill Road, a few hundred yards from her home.

She is believed to have been in the Booze Bar store, which is near the post office a short time later, but there have been no sightings of her since.

Her parents reported her missing to police shortly after 5.30pm on Thursday and since then, officers have been carrying out searches of the local area, studying footage from security cameras and making inquiries with Ms Atkinson's friends and family.

Ms Atkinson, who lives with her two daughters, aged ten and three, as well as her parents, has not been missing before and her disappearance has been described as totally out of character.

She has no medical conditions and is deeply devoted to her two children.

Detective Chief Inspector Roger Ford, who is leading the investigation, said: "I would also appeal to the local community, who may have any information about where Lindsay is or who may have seen her from around 11am last Thursday, to contact us as a matter or urgency."

Ms Atkinson is 5ft, and of medium build.

She has short, straight, dark brown hair, cut in a bob with a straight fringe.

She has several piercings in each ear and always wears glasses with tinted lenses.

When she left home, she was wearing a green crew-neck jumper with the word Reebok on the chest.

She was also wearing a beige and navy waterproof anorak with the words Mountain Pass on the front, blue jeans and white trainers with pink flashes on them.

Ms Atkinson, or anyone with any information about her whereabouts, is asked to contact police in Gateshead, on 0191-4547555 ext 64152.