'Our children are still missing

Four mothers speak to new about living without their children and the pain of not knowing their fate

- Siobhan McNally

When all others have given up searching, the parents of the missing always cling to the slimmest of hopes of seeing their children again. Four mums in such a situation - Sharon Lee, Julie Davis, Nerissa Tivy and Christine Durand - have gathered together to share their stories after spending years trying to find their lost children.

Sharon, whose daughter Katrice went missing on her second birthday on 28 November 1981, from a British army base shop in Paderborn, Germany, says, "I've not given up hope for 43 years. Your missing loved one will never be lost."

Mother-of-six, Julie Davis from Solihull, has been looking for her son, Premiership Rugby player Levi Davis, since he went missing in Barcelona on 29 October 2022, aged 24. She says, "It feels worse than a bereavement. When someone's missing you're constantly grieving, but I will never give up hope of finding Levi alive."

Levi's disappearance made headlines - as well as being a sportsman he appeared on The X Factor: Celebrity in 2019.

However, the disappearance of a person with a troubled background, history of substance abuse, mental health struggles or if they have gone missing previously is less likely to be investigated. Black, Asian or working class people are also disproportionately overlooked.

Accountancy student Alexander Sloley was only two days off his 17th birthday when he went missing on 2 August 2008, after staying at a friend's house. Mum-of-four Nerissa Tivy, 56, says it took two years before the police even began to investigate her son's case.

"The police just said he's run away because he was due to appear in court for possession of cannabis," says Nerissa, who still lives in the family home in Finsbury Park, north London, and describes motherhood as "like a jigsaw with a piece missing".