Two tabloids have attempted to cash in on the story of the two missing schoolgirls by offering rewards for information this morning. The Soaraway Sun offers £150,000 (and they’re giving away a free poster so you know they’ve got to be serious!) The Express have trumped them however, by offering the ridiculous sum of £1,000,000. Of course the Express offer is all funded out of pornography, so you might feel a little uncomfortable accepting the money.

This is the Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman story. At this point the girls were just missing. It wasn’t until 17th August that their bodies were found. Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr were arrested soon afterwards. I can’t see any evidence that the Sun or Express reader paid out any money on these offers. Or that the Sun’s poster achieved anything useful at all. Terrible things like this still happen – as I write this Stuart Hazell has just been charged with the murder of Tia Sharp – and tabloids still overreact like this. I don’t remember any more appeals for information that have been backed with tabloid’s own money though.