Schoolboy sparks huge police hunt after hiding under his bed to avoid school

A nine-old-boy sparked a huge police search costing tens of thousands of pounds when he hid under his bed because he wanted the day of school, it has emerged.

Josh Dinning's family panicked and feared the worst when they went into his room at their Gateshead home to get him up for school to discover he was there.

His mother Michelle, 49, called the police at 9am on Tuesday morning and the force helicopter and dog section were called out to search from him.

Neighbours also joined in the hunt, checking bushes, outbuildings and gardens and handing out pictures of Josh at local shops.

But all the while the youngster was curled up underneath a cabin bed in a room in his room, despite the fact it had already been searched by police officers.

Josh had crawled through a tiny gap 1ft by 2ft gap  in the bottom of the wooden bed frame and curled up where he hoped he wouldn't be seen.

After a search last three hours and 40 minutes, he was eventually found when police officers went back for a second look.

Josh said: "I could hear people looking for me and I thought I had better stay quiet because when they found me I would get shouted and bawled at so I just stayed where I was."

Michelle, a sales assistant and mum of eight, said: "I just couldn't bring myself to be angry with him, the relief that he was alive and well was just too much. Even the police officer who was leading the search was in tears.

"He went to bed at half past nine on Monday night just as he always does but his older brother Owen, who he shares a room with, came down and asked "where's Josh?"

"We searched all over the house, every room and were shouting his name but there was no reply.

"I went to his friend Blake's house to see if he had got up and gone round there but his mum said she hadn't seen him.

"My next hope was that he'd gone off to school by himself because his uniform wasn't there but school rang and said he hadn't turned up and I knew I had to call the police.

"That was at about 9am and they were round to the house within 10 minutes. At that stage it all got very real and I was panicking, thinking the worst could have happened."

The family's home is close to the Tyne so officers began patrolling the banks of the river and the helicopter searched from the air as officers went door to door.

Josh's brother Scott, 20, said: "It's hard to believe that while all this was going on he was just curled up under his bed.

"The police did a search for him, I don't know how he was missed, although it was a very small space he had crawled into and I think they just felt he couldn't have got himself in there. We're not sure how he did."

With no sign of Josh in over three and a half hours police prepared to brief the media in a hastily convened press conference outside Forth Banks police station in Newcastle.

Michelle said: "I suggested one more look around the house because it's just not like Josh to go away on his own, it's something he never does.

"They went upstairs again and this time they lifted all the beds in his room and one of them bent down.

"I heard him say "Howay son, time to come out now I think."

"I bent down and saw the green of his school shirt and burst into tears, it was a feeling like

I've never known, the relief was unbelievable."

Police say they will review their search procedures.

A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: "We can confirm that missing Josh Dinning was found at around 12.40pm hiding in a hidden drawer compartment under his bed.

"Josh was found by one of our officers who had been searching the address. Josh was returned to his mother who was clearly relieved that he was found safe and well.

"An initial search of the house had been conducted throughout the morning but the compartment had not been checked by either police or Josh's family.

"He has now been reunited with his family and we will be reviewing why he was missed in our initial searches."