Hell as hope vanishes too
SOMEONE is reported missing every two minutes in Britain, a remarkable and frightening statistic.
And that’s a good way to describe this series, which goes behind the scenes with police forces as officers search for missing persons.
It’s a tense and upsetting watch, giving just a tiny window into the unimaginable despair which must be felt by those people’s loved ones as they wait for news and try not to imagine the worst.
And it’s also an insight into how difficult a job it is for the officers, as they painstakingly try to recreate someone’s movements and search for clues which could help – knowing there won’t always be a happy ending and a tearful reunion.
Tonight’s case is that of Jean Lloyd – a Wirral pensioner who left her house to catch the bus to her local doctor’s surgery, then disappeared.
The 77-year-old lives with her son Edward and has never spent a night away from home before, so when she fails to return after several hours he starts to worry.
And as the hours turn into days, and they have no eye witnesses or concrete leads, the police are very worried too.
The local community rally round – forming search parties, knocking on doors, putting up posters.
And Cheshire police use every means possible to find her – sending up the helicopter to search the nearby marshland, calling in the Search and Rescue and specialist underwater teams.
But as time goes on, it looks less and less hopeful.