A MOTHER who sparked a global hunt after disappearing has turned up safe and well, but her family still don’t know where she is.

Annemarie Squires, 40, vanished from her home on May 13, leaving a note for her partner but not making contact with her family in Salisbury who were left extremely worried and puzzled by what had happened.

Her sister Julie Hurst, who lives in Amesbury, set up a page on social networking site Facebook appealing for information, and it was this that led to Mrs Squire’s finally getting in touch yesterday.

Mrs Hurst, 41, said: “Someone told her about the site and that she had been reported missing so she went into a police station to tell them she was all right.”

But Mrs Squires, who has a 23-year-old son, Andrew, did not want friends and relatives to know where she is.

“We are gutted but at least we know she is safe and well,” said Mrs Hurst.

She said her sister had become obsessed with the online chat and the fantasy rooms of a virtual reality website - where users get to create a persona in a virtual reality world – and that they were concerned her disappearance could be linked to someone she had met online.

Mrs Squires grew up in Laverstock with Mrs Hurst and other sister Nikki Hawthorn, 36, who still lives in the family home, and brother Andrew Dawkins, 34, who now lives in Bournemouth.

She had been living in Portsmouth for the past eight years.

In a message posted to the Facebook group Please Help Us Find Annemarie Squires yesterday, Mrs Hurst said: “Thank you for your support and this group made her go to the police station. The group will be closed now.”