A WOMAN who sparked a Christmas day panic when she disappeared from her Loughton home has been found safe and well.

Sarah Tozer, 32, was last seen leaving a house in Debden Green at around 2.50am wearing just light clothing with no shoes on.

She was thought to have headed towards a part of nearby forest where she regularly runs, while a car was also reported drawing up alongside the house shortly after she left.

Worried police soon launched a mass search of west Essex on Christmas morning in an attempt to track her down amid freezing temperatures.

But the search was called off when she was found at a house in Epping at 4pm.