AMBER PEAT: Family investigated after tragic teen’s death

Danny Peat - who made a tearful public plea for the 13-year-old to return home after she was reported missing in May - left the family home on Bosworth Street, Mansfield, pending further inquiries.

Amber was found hanged in a hedgerow three days after she stormed out of her home on Saturday, May 30.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the cause of her death.

Mr Peat was jailed for 16 months in July last year for swindling more than £205,000 in tax repayments from HMRC.

Chad has seen Nottinghamshire County Council documents outlining meetings with the family following Amber’s death.

Nottinghamshire County Council’s service director for children’s social care Steve Edwards said: “This is a tragic case and our sympathy is with all members of Amber’s family.

“We believe it is important to respect the confidentiality and privacy of children, and to ensure this, we do not comment on individual cases.

“However, we will always work closely with families and our partners to support children when there is any suggestion that a child is at risk.”

It is thought Mr Peat is now living back in Derbyshire, where the family had lived before moving to the Mansfield area last year.

Lynda Cook, 40, is the wife of Amber’s biological father, Adrian Cook, and she says the couple have been ‘gobsmacked’ by the revelations revealed in the documents.

They had not seen Amber in three years and the first they knew about her disappearance was on the internet.

During the search, police then investigated the possibility that Amber may have tried to head north of the border to see her father and Lynda, who live near Inverness.

Mrs Cook told Chad she believed people need to know the outcome of the council’s probe.

“This whole thing has been an absolute nightmare.

“It’s the kind of thing that does not happen to you.

“It’s so sad, we feel helpless and have just had to take a back seat with everything.”

The case of Amber captured the nation’s attention after she went missing from her home at around 5.30pm on Saturday, May 30.

The family, including Danny and Amber’s mother Kelly, had just returned from a holiday in Cornwall.

It was said that Amber got into an argument with Danny and Kelly when they got home about household chores - that she had been asked to clean her sandwich box out after the long drive back from Cornwall. She left the house and did not return. The alarm was raised hours later and in the days that followed, hundreds of people - many from the Ladybrook estate - helped in the search.

The Ladybrook pub was used as a hub as voluntary search parties were sent out to comb areas of Mansfield and Ashfield.

Both Mr and Mrs Peat attended a press conference in Mansfield where they made a tearful plea for Amber to return home safely.

It was not until the Tuesday evening, three days after she went missing, that she was found by police in a narrow hedge area next to a footpath between Westfield Lane and Parliament Road.

It was less than a mile from her home.