Mary 36th on list of missing

Five weeks since Mary Berrington went missing her daughter Susan Geerars is starting to come to terms with the fact she may have to pack away some of her mother’s belongings.

Berrington, who vanished on July 19, was the 36th name added to the list of people officially missing in the wider Wellington region.

Figures released by police under the Official Information Act show since 2011 alone there have been 11 people reported missing within Hutt Valley, Kapiti Coast, Wairarapa and Wellington. Since records of missing people have been kept, 25 males and 11 females have disappeared in the area.

Each day living with a missing family member was ‘‘horrific’’, Geerars said.

‘‘We are getting to the time soon when we are going to have to look at passing her flat onto someone else and pack up her belongings. That is another thing which is going to make the situation harder,’’ she said.

Berrington joins the list of missing people, which includes names such as Kaye Stewart, who vanished on June 13, 2005, after visiting Rimutaka Forest Park for a short walk. The case still remains open more than a decade later.

Not all people remained missing forever. Last year, three boys playing around the Ngaio bush in February found the remains of John Holmes Smith, who was reported missing in Wellington back in 1986.