Missing woman’s sister breaks down at Co Down site where she was last seen
The sister of missing Co Down woman Lisa Dorrian broke down in tears at the site where her sister was last seen 14 years ago as she urged anyone that could help to find her to come forward.
Joanne Dorrian (pictured) made the plea as her family revisited the caravan park where Lisa was last seen alive 14 years ago.
A new large-scale search operation is under way at an airfield beside Ballyhalbert Caravan Park on the Co Down coast.
The 25-year-old was last seen alive at the caravan park on February 28, 2005. Police believe she was murdered.
Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy said the new searches have been nine months in the planning, with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) working with the National Crime Agency (NCA).
He said they are using both new information and new techniques to comb the area.
The Dorrian family watched on as Mr Murphy said although 400 searches have taken place across Northern Ireland for Lisa, he believes the answers to her murder remain in Ballyhalbert.
Joanne was tearful as she described how hard it has been for the family to come back to where her sister was last seen alive.
“We have been without Lisa for 14 years,” she said.
“Coming back to Ballyhalbert is really, really difficult.
“When Lisa first went missing we walked these fields, in the days after she went missing we thought we were just looking for her because she had ran out in the night, and maybe fallen and passed away in the cold. Then we knew police were looking at a murder investigation.
“People can’t imagine what this feels like, what it feels like not knowing where she is. My mum passed away a few years ago, she never got the answers that she needed, it ruined her life and it has ruined our lives. None of us have been the same ever since this happened.
“To think that Lisa could be here where we are today, it’s just so hard to imagine. We are grateful for everything the police are doing to find Lisa, to give her what she deserves. This is for Lisa, this is not for us.
“The people who know where Lisa is knew Lisa, they knew the kind of person that she was, she knew the funny person that she was, and I just ask them to remember that.
“If they can come forward and please just help us to get some sort of peace, that’s all that we can ask for.”
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2019, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Rebecca Black / PA Wire.
