Ben Fordham breaks down as Cleo Smith is found

Sydney radio host Ben Fordham has broken down on air as he broke the news that four-year-old Cleo Smith had been found “alive and well” after being missing for 18 days.

The 2GB host’s voice broke as he confirmed WA Police had smashed their way into a locked Carnarvon house in the early hours of Wednesday morning and found the child in a room.

Fordham said the news had hit him “so hard”.

“As the father of little girls, I’m just so happy for their family,” he said.

“I don’t know why it hits so hard it just does – when it’s a little person.”

Fordham spoke to NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller who told him his WA counterpart had also broken down after hearing the news.

“When he got the call this morning he broke down and cried. That speaks volumes,” Mr Fuller said.

“I thought the chances of finding her alive were so slim.

“He said to me, ‘West Australian Police never gave up on Cleo’. It was good old fashion police work that resulted in her being found alive.”

In a public statement, WA Deputy Commissioner had said announcing Cleo was found alive was a “privilege”.

The four-year-old went missing from the family tent at the Quobba Blowholes campground in Macleod, near Carnarvon, on October 16.

Investigators believed she had been abducted, after ruling out that Cleo would have been able to open the tent and wander out.

As late as Tuesday night, the working theory was that it had been an “opportunistic kidnapping”.

Detectives broke their way into a locked house in Carnarvon in the early hours of Wednesday morning, where they found the girl in a room.

When an officer picked up the girl and asked her what her name was, she responded “my name is Cleo”.

She has been reunited with her relieved family, and a Carnarvon man has been taken into custody.

The 18-day search had covered hundreds of kilometres, and the state government had announced a $1m reward for information.

During the search, police spoke to hundreds of registered sex offenders in the area but came up with no leads.

On Monday, police revealed they had collected more than 50 cubic metres of rubbish from roadside bins throughout WA.

Dozens of forensic and police officers spent two days sorting through the rubbish hoping for a lead.

A major focus of the police investigation had been centred on a mystery vehicle, seen by two people, that had turned away from Blowholes Rd towards Carnarvon on the morning Cleo disappeared.

Officers had combed Cleo’s parents home three times searching for clues, but they were very early ruled out as suspects.

Cleo’s mother Ellie Smith took to social media on Wednesday morning to say thank you to everyone who had assisted in bringing her daughter home, writing on Instagram that the family was “whole again”.