Police searching for missing Gaynor Lord say piecing together what happened to her in a five-hour period on the day she vanished could be key to her disappearance.
The married mother-of-three was last seen at 2.45pm on Friday when she left work at Jarrolds department store in Norwich city centre, more than an hour earlier than she was due to finish.
A missing person investigation was not triggered until shortly after 8pm, when a member of the public called police to report finding some of her possessions more than a mile away, in Wensum Park.
One of the items was a handbag, which contained Gaynor's ID. Officers went to her address and found she had not returned home after leaving work.
READ MORE: Coat of missing Norwich woman found in river
Police say her disappearance is "completely out of character" and believe that filling in those 'missing' five hours could help them work out what happened to the 55-year-old.
In a series of developments, it has also emerged that:
- Gaynor’s clothing, two rings, her mobile phone and glasses have been discovered at various locations around the park;
- Her coat was found in the water and police believe she may have entered the river;
- A witness reported seeing someone who could have been Gaynor at 4pm in the park. The witness said the woman removed her coat and performed a yoga pose;
- Specialist divers with sonar equipment are expected to join the search on Wednesday.
The riverside Wensum Park been focus of a major police search operation and has been closed to the public since Saturday.
The case has striking similarities with that of Nicola Bulley, who sparked a huge search earlier this year when she vanished after dropping off her two daughters at school in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.
Her body was found in the river Wyre on February 19, about a mile from where she disappeared while walking her dog on January 27. Her phone and the dog’s harness were discovered nearby. An inquest in June concluded she accidentally drowned.
Superintendent Wes Hornigold, from Norfolk police, said officers were seeking to discover what happened in the key five hours between Gaynor leaving work and the discovery that she failed to return home.
He said: “We are doing everything we can to understand the period from the last sighting until we had the call about the discovery of her clothing.
“A lot of work is being done to understand what happened in that period and the circumstances that led up to her disappearance.”
READ MORE: Norwich park remains closed as search continues
CCTV shows her leaving her job as a retail assistant for Bullards Gin, which has a concession stand at Jarrolds, via Bedford Street at 2.45pm. She had been due to finish at 4pm.
She was then seen walking on London Street heading towards Norwich Cathedral.
Superintendent Hornigold said: “CCTV searches are being undertaken in and around the city centre and we would appeal to the public who may have seen anyone matching Gaynor’s description.”
He said there was “currently nothing to suggest this is anything more than a missing person inquiry” but police are speaking to family and friends and analysing her mobile phone to assess her state of mind.
“There is lots of work under way to try to understand the reasons for her leaving work early,” he said.
Wensum Park was not part of Gaynor’s usual route home and there are no obvious reasons why she would have been in the area, where she had never lived.
“This wasn’t her normal route and coupled with the fact she left work early means there is obviously lots of work for us to do. The more information we can get can help us to piece that together,” said Superintendent Hornigold.
He added: “There’s no evidence that Gaynor has come to harm and while we have a number of enquiries ongoing, given where her clothing was found and other items, there is a real possibility she has entered the water."
Searches at the park were set to be stepped up on Wednesday with the help of specialist underwater divers from Lincolnshire police and advanced sonar equipment after an appeal to the Home Office.
READ MORE: Divers to join search for missing Norwich woman
Superintendent Hornigold said they were taking a “systematic approach” to the search centred on the park but widening the search further downstream has not been ruled out.
He said: “We will do everything to make sure we work through both the land and water based searches to make sure that as we work through we are really comfortable that each area has been searched.
“It may widen but we will work through it as we go. But all of the information and intelligence we have at the moment is centred on the park.”
Gaynor is described as white, 5 ft 6 tall, and was wearing a white shirt and yellow tank top with a large olive-coloured coat over the top and a scarf. She has blonde shoulder length hair in a bob.
Anyone with information or who knows her whereabouts should contact Norfolk Police on 101 quoting incident number 427 of 8 December 2023.
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