The mother of missing Baildon teenager Gavin Terry has urged West Yorkshire Police to channel their efforts into finding her son - more than two months after he disappeared without a trace.

Philomena Terry spoke out after police discovered nine-year-old schoolgirl Shannon Matthews following one of the biggest manhunts the force has carried out in recent years.

Twenty-four days after going missing - and following a huge poster campaign which attracted national press coverage - Shannon was found alive on Friday, concealed in the base of a divan bed in a house just half a mile from her home.

Now Mrs Terry, of Luis Court, Baildon, said she hoped that West Yorkshire Police would re-direct its focus back to the hunt for missing Gavin, 19.

"We just want peace of mind to know what has happened to him," she said.

The final-year student vanished after a night out with friends in Leeds city centre at 1am on Saturday, January 12.

He was last seen outside the Revolution bar and nightclub in Call Lane and did not turn up for a home rugby fixture at Bradford Salem's ground in Heaton the following day.

Police divers carried out an underwater search of the River Aire, near to the spot where Gavin was last seen, and teams searched derelict buildings in a bid to find the Leeds Metropolitan University student.

Posters displaying a picture of Gavin and details of his disappearance were put up in pubs to encourage anyone with information to come forward.

Since then, however, the trail has gone cold, his concerned mother said.

She said: "He has not been found yet and the official police line is that they fear Gavin may have drowned in the River Aire.

"There is no evidence at all that Gavin is in the river. They have not been able to search the River Aire for weeks because all the manpower has been taken up with the Shannon Matthews case.

"The police have been involved in the biggest manhunt since the Yorkshire Ripper to find Shannon but Gavin still has not been found.

"It is great that she has been found. We are hoping now that there may be more manpower to find Gavin."

Last week, Mrs Terry joined the heartbroken relatives of other missing children, including the family of Madeleine McCann, at a march in London.

The mothers of two teenagers who also vanished organised the event to highlight the scale of the problem and its effect on families.

Campaigners are urging the government to give financial help to a group that provides practical and emotional support.

The Missing People charity estimates 210,000 individuals are reported missing each year.

Mrs Terry, who joined the march with the support of her friends, said: "We went along to raise the profile of Gavin nationally because he still has not been found.

"He went missing on January 12. We are now more than two months down the line and the trail has gone cold because there just has not been the resources to find him.

"It is the same for any mother (of a missing child). I am trying my best to get any information by talking to other people who are in the same situation.

"I have been on the missing persons' website and in touch with the police on a daily basis. It is an extremely difficult and heartbreaking situation.

"Unfortunately when a young male disappears the national media are reluctant to run the story which is not the case for young women who disappear.

"We are very concerned and we want peace of mind to know what has happened to Gavin."

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed that the search for Gavin was continuing in the wake of a fresh appeal issued last month.

At the time, Detective Superintendent Paul Taylor, who is leading the inquiry, said: "We are particularly keen to speak to anyone who may have found items such as a wallet or a credit card bearing Gavin's name.

"People do go walking in the area and we would like to hear from anyone who may have found anything bearing Gavin's name or anything that they believe may specifically belong to him."

More than 31,000 people have now joined a Facebook website created to lend support and give information on Gavin's disappearance.

Anyone with information should call police on 0845 6060606.