A TEENAGER from Cheshire missing from her home for the last nine weeks is feared dead.

Cheshire Police will today announce that they believe 17-year-old Shafelia Ahmed from Warrington is dead.

The Asian teenager, known as "Shaf" to her friends, was last seen on September 11 when she left home.

She failed to attend a hospital appointment on September 12 and doctors warned that without special treatment she may not have been able to swallow liquids.

Shafelia suffered from oesophageal restriction, a medical condition affecting her throat and stomach.

Although not ruling out her medical condition as a possible cause of death, Cheshire Police are expected to confirm that they believe the girl may have been killed in suspicious circumferences.

Shafelia was 5ft 3ins tall, slim, with brown eyes, dark brown hair with blonde streaks, and pierced ears. She was last seen on the evening of September 11, although her absence was not initially reported to police.

Without a body or a crime scene, Cheshire Police have not yet opened a murder inquiry.

But further details of the police investigation will be revealed at a press conference to be held at police headquarters in Warrington this morning.

Present at the conference will be Detective Chief Inspector Geraint Jones, who is leading the police investigation and Martin Brett, a consultant surgeon at Warrington District general hospital.