TWO men have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of Chantel Taylor, the mother-of-three who vanished from her Birkenhead home in March last year, writes Justin Dunn.

The men, a 51 year-old and 30 year-old, are both from the Birkenhead area and were arrested by police on Tuesday morning.

Chantel has not been seen since she left her home in Newling Street, Birkenhead, in the early hours of Saturday, March 13, 2004.

She was apparently going out to buy cigarettes from a nearby garage but never returned, and has remained on the missing list ever since.

She was wearing a black leather skirt, brown boots, a cream top, black tights and a black leather coat.

Since that time Chantel's mother Jean Taylor, 55, has searched the north west, putting up posters and appealing for people who may have seen her to come forward.

Over Christmas, Chantel's case was featured on GMTV's annual appeal for the missing and she was also included in an initiative run by the National Missing Persons' Helpline and BT Payphones.

Pictures of missing people from across the region appeared on special screens installed on the sides of 12 phone boxes around the centre of Liverpool.

It was hoped that by publicising their details to thousands of Christmas shoppers, leads might be found to their whereabouts.

Mrs Taylor said at the time: "This is the worst time of year for anybody with a missing loved one.

"It's horrendous to see people out doing Christmas shopping when you know that you can't give anything to your child.

"I hope people will take the time as they pass these phone boxes to stop and look at the screens and see if they recognise any of the faces - it might make all the difference."

Since Chantel was first reported missing, there were reported sightings of her in both Birkenhead and the Walton Road area of Liverpool.

One person claimed to have seen her safe and well at 9.15am on March 22 in Oxton Road, Birkenhead.

In November, police announced that a reward was available for anyone who could provide information leading to her whereabouts, but that too failed to draw any leads.

Chantel's brother, Stephen Crofts, died four years ago after a female friend, Betty Paterson, injected him with a heroin overdose. She was sentenced to three years in jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

A police spokeswoman confirmed that detectives were questioning the two men on suspicion of Chantel's murder at a police station on Merseyside.