POLICE hunting the killer of 10-year-old Lauren Pilkington-Smith are looking for two boys seen playing with her before she was found battered to death.

The schoolgirl died from multiple blows to the head.

Police have revealed that she was playing with two boys near to the spot where her body was found.

Officers are trying to discover whether Lauren suffered her injuries in a fight and urged the two boys to come forward.

Lauren was found dead in a patch of woodland at the end of Sanderson Street in Leigh in the early hours of Friday morning.

She had been reported missing by her parents on Thursday night.

Police believe the killer tried to hide her body in undergrowth.

Detectives trying to trace Lauren's final movements have revealed she was seen playing with the two boys in Sanderson Street at 8.10pm - two hours before she was reported missing.

Her body was discovered 200 yards from her home in thick undergrowth at 2.30am on Friday morning after her family and friends searched a piece of land between Twist Lane, where the youngster lived, and the Leeds-Liverpool Canal.

The man leading the hunt for the killer, Det Supt Andy Tattersall, said: "We have now received a number of confirmed sightings of Lauren on Thursday evening.

"These are being followed up and as part of this we will be speaking to her friends and other people she knew.

"We are in the process of tracing a number of people from the Leigh area.

"As part of this process there may be arrests and interviews in order to eliminate individuals from our investigation."

A carpet of floral tributes left by mourning friends and family members covers the end of Sanderson Street, Leigh, where Lauren's body was discovered by her grandfather, Barry Smith, on Friday morning.

Lauren, who lived in Twist Lane, had spent Thursday night playing with friends in nearby Firs Park before leaving them at about 7pm.

Her parents, Glen Smith, aged 37, and Alison Pilkington, aged 35, started to worry after she failed to return home at 8.30pm.

A police hunt began at 10.15pm after she was reported missing.

Lauren's name is spelled out in flowers and a grassed area is covered by carpet of flowers, teddy bears and a football in memory of the football-mad "tom-boy.

Heartfelt messages on the hundreds of bouquets promise Lauren will "never be forgotten".

Poignantly, some simply ask the question "Why?", while others ask keen footballer, Lauren to play football with the angels.

A message signed simply "Naomi" reads: "Missed and not forgotten, school will not be the same without you."

Other friends have written: "We will miss you. Have good fun playing football with the angels, score a goal for us."

Another signed by Joyce and Roy Burrow reads: "Why? - Goodnight, God bless little one. Sleep tight.

Lauren was described by her parents as a "beautiful, lively little girl.

They added: "Our world has collapsed in the last 24 hours and we can't even begin to think what we will do without her."

Lauren's two sisters Rebecca, aged 15, and Ciara, two-and-a-half, and brother Sam, aged four, are "devastated" about her death, the family said.

Staff at Lauren's school have also spoken of their deep shock at the death.

Children at Leigh Church of England Primary School, where Lauren was a Year 6 pupil, were told about the death by teachers at special assemblies on Friday and counsellors were brought in to help youngsters come to terms with the murder.

"Lauren was a happy popular and successful pupil and it's hard to imagine that life at the school will ever be the same again," said headteacher Brian Fawcett.

The murder will reawaken painful memories of the death of 14-year-old Lisa Hession, whose body was discovered less than half a mile away from Lauren's home, in 1984.

Like Lauren, Lisa had been playing with friends and failed to return to her home to her mother's house on Bonnywell Road.

Her mother, Christine, had searched the area around her home frantically for several hours before Lisa's body was discovered lying semi-naked in an alleyway just yards from her home.

She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.

The two deaths are not being linked.

Det Supt Tattersall added: "A very detailed investigative plan is now being developed, which will encompass all reported incidents in and around the Leigh area that may have relevance to Lauren's murder.

"CCTV of the area is being collected and viewed and is now subject to detailed examination. House to house enquiries are taking place and are currently focusing on the area around Sanderson Street.

"I would like to renew my appeal to anyone who saw Lauren on Thursday evening or anyone with any information about her death to come forward."

Anyone with information is urged to contact the incident room at Leigh Police Station on 0161 856 7351. Information can also be passed via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.