THIS quiet country lane in the village of Bremhill is the spot where missing 21-year-old nursery nurse Amanda Edwards was last seen alive a week ago.

Miss Edwards, of Blacklands, Purton, dropped off her boyfriend David Board, 19, at his home near Calne at around 11.30am.

She and Mr Board had been dating for around a year, but neither he or her parents Beverley and Hartley, have seen her since.

Her mother told yesterday how alarm bells started ringing when her daughter failed to return home on Thursday evening.

Learning she had not met friends as planned that day and after hearing that her car had been spotted at a supermarket car park, she went in search of her daughter, but found only her dark green Rover Metro with the registration L597 PHP abandoned in car park C at Asda in Swindon.

"My main concern is that Amanda is not well. She's on medication for her illness," said Mrs Edwards.

"To just go off somewhere is so out of character for her. It's something that Amanda would not do without letting me know where she was. She's very close to her family and very close to her friends.

"We're finding all of this very hard. Her dad's been over to Asda at West Swindon several times to hand out photos to get more information and to see if anybody can give us some ideas who might have been the last one to see Amanda, apart from her boyfriend.

"Her boyfriend called me on Thursday night to say he couldn't get through to her on her mobile. I tried her phone and it was switched off. And then later that night neighbours of ours told us they'd been to Asda and saw Amanda's car there.

"We tried and tried again to call her, but there was nothing, so I contacted the police."

She said the wait for news has been agonising. "We just feel that sitting around waiting for news is so frustrating. I just feel helpless.

"Hopefully someone knows something and we'll get Amanda back safe," she told GWR.

A massive police operation has swung into action during the last seven days, led by DCS Paul Howlett.

Yesterday, the task force was upped from 60 to 100 officers, but DCS Howlett admitted they are still no closer to explaining Miss Edwards' disappearance or her current whereabouts, despite the arrest of a middle-aged Swindon man.

The man, believed to be a builder from Swindon, was arrested on Monday night on charges of kidnapping Amanda.

The man is thought to have known Miss Edwards for a year and has been working on a housing development at the former site of the Knoll House Hotel in Malmesbury.

On Tuesday, police forensics teams searched the building site and a man, thought to be the suspect, was taken briefly to the site, his face covered by a white blanket.

He was whisked away however because of media interest. A police search was due to resume there last night.

He said the Asda in West Swindon, where Miss Edwards' abandoned green Rover Metro was discovered, remains a key location in the investigation.'

Officers will be out in force today from 9am to 9pm, handing out pictures of the missing girl in an effort to find anyone who may have seen her the day she disappeared.

They will also hand out leaflets and talk to shoppers at the One Stop Shop in Purton where images of her buying a pack of cigarettes were recorded on the store's CCTV cameras on the morning of the day she vanished.

DCS Howlett said police still cannot explain why Miss Edwards' car was at Asda and said she had given no indication to friends or family that she intended to go shopping.

"Her boyfriend was the last person to see her and the next certain sighting was at West Swindon six or seven hours later," DCS Howlett said.

"Thousands of people pass through that car park every day and someone must have seen her. She's a young lady who lives at home with her mum and dad. There's nothing remarkable about her, she simply disappeared from view.''

He said police have not completed their search of the former Knoll Hotel site and added that a number of other sites across the country will be investigated.

DCS Howlett said officers are also investigating CCTV footage filmed at Asda on the day Miss Edwards disappeared. He said was labour intensive and time consuming, but remains a significant line of inquiry.

Miss Edwards works at Little Foxes Preschool, Brinkworth, as a nursery nurse. The children there have been told of her disappearance.

Owner Ken Willy said: We are quite devastated. Our support is with Amanda's family at this time and we have sent them our best wishes."