A SCHOOLGIRL with a heart condition is appealing for the return of a monitor that went missing while she was in class.

Naomi Fear, 15, of Portland, says the £1,000 hand-held device disappeared during lessons at Royal Manor Arts College.

Naomi suffers from a heart rhythm condition and needs the monitor to record vital information in the event she falls unconscious.

She says the device may have dropped from her bag or been taken by someone mistaking it for a mobile phone.

She said: "It's very important for me because if I do faint it records my heart rate.

"There is another device implanted beneath my skin and this one is held over it.

"I took it off for dance class and put it in my bag but when I came back it was gone."

Her mum Julie said the the police had been informed about the missing device..

She said: "Somebody may have thought it was a phone because it is the same size and they would not have known the difference until they opened it.

"She has asked all her friends and they have no idea where it is so we are appealing through the Echo."

Paul Green, headteacher at the school said: "We are happy for an appeal to be made because this is a vital piece of equipment for Naomi.

"We don't know whether it was lost or stolen but we want to get it back."

The monitor was inside a small black pouch with a string attached.