Boy, three, took 17-mile bus journey on his own

Libraries can be a bit of a bore when you are three. So Leon Smith sneaked away from his mother and went on a 17-mile bus ride instead.

His disappearance triggered a huge search involving a police helicopter, sniffer dogs and members of the public, before his frantic mother was told an hour later that the runaway had been found safe and well.

Leon's adventure - which he undertook in his stockinged feet - began when he was taken to the library in Braintree, Essex.

Melinda Smith, 34, his mother, said "Leon had been pressing the buttons on the lift. My back was turned for only a few seconds and then Leon was gone."

"He had gone into the lift down to the ground floor, down the steps out of the library and on to a bus at the stop in front of the library."

The driver did not give Leon a second glance as he boarded the bus immediately behind a middle-aged woman, whom the driver assumed to be looking after the boy.