Gaynor Lord: New footage of missing Norwich woman released
The married mother-of-three has not been seen since Friday. Police believe she entered the River Wensum and specialist underwater teams are involved in the search.
Thursday 14 December 2023 19:41, UK
New footage of missing mother-of-three Gaynor Lord, who was last seen on Friday, has been released.
The 55-year-old disappeared after leaving work early in Norwich city centre - with police describing her actions as "out of character".
The new 33-second clip shows Mrs Lord walking up St Augustines Street at 4.01pm. It was the last time she was captured on CCTV, police said.
She is seen wearing glasses and a long coat as she walks along the road - which is busy with passing traffic.
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The street is close to Wensum Park, where Mrs Lord was last seen by a passer-by, and where some of her possessions, including her mobile phone and glasses, were later found.
Other CCTV footage released earlier in the week shows her leaving her job at Jarrolds department store at 2.45pm - an hour and 15 minutes earlier than scheduled - and walking towards Norwich Cathedral.
Yoga pose sighting
Mrs Lord was later seen leaving the cathedral's grounds just after 3.20pm, before making her way through the city centre to St Augustines Street.
Police were alerted that Mrs Lord, who is married, had gone missing on Friday after her possessions were found in Wensum Park just after 8pm. Her ID was also found in her handbag at the scene.
The white shirt and yellow top she was wearing, along with two rings, a mobile phone and glasses, were also found scattered nearby.
Her olive-coloured coat was discovered in the River Wensum, which runs alongside the park.
An eyewitness told ITV's Good Morning Britain that she saw a woman believed to be Mrs Lord in the park.
She described seeing the woman remove her coat and put it on the ground, before "sort of performing a yoga pose". The witness added that something "seemed a bit off" because it was "starting to get dark".
'We can't explain some of her behaviour'
Officers believe Mrs Lord entered the water and specialist underwater teams are involved in the search.
In a press conference at the scene on Thursday afternoon, Chief Superintendent Dave Buckley said officers had not been able to establish her state of mind on the day she went missing.
He said that "everything we know is pointing to a high probability that Gaynor went into the water", but added: "Nobody's seen her go into the river."
Detectives are keeping an "open mind" about what happened, but Ch Supt Buckley described some of Mrs Lord's actions on Friday as "out of character".
He added: "We can't explain some of her behaviour that day."
The senior officer said detectives were speaking to the mother-of-three's friends and family and "anybody who can help us that we know she's had contact with".
He added: "We have got hold of her mobile device, we will work our way through that systematically... and see if we can find out more accurately why we've ended up where we have.
"It would be really premature I think if I offered too much suggestion as to what I think has happened."
However, the senior officer said detectives did have an idea why Mrs Lord left work early, but did not provide any details.
He told reporters: "We've got some indications as to why she behaved the way in which she did but what we're doing is we're just working backwards now to actually truly understand what may have taken place.
"We're just cautious of everything we know at the moment".
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Police are keen to hear from anyone who saw Mrs Lord between 2.50pm and 3.23pm - because it was "not clear where she goes inside the cathedral grounds during this time".
Some 30 people have already come forward with information in relation to the disappearance.
Ch Supt Buckley also confirmed that his officers were in direct contact with Lancashire Police - who led the search for Nicola Bulley at the start of the year.
"In terms of Lancashire, we've reached out to them and to investigators that worked on that case," he said.
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In further cross-service collaboration, he said a specialist team from Lincolnshire was also assisting in the search.
No marks were found on the grass by the river to indicate that someone had gone in the water, Norfolk Police confirmed.
The force said specialist divers were working in an "extraordinarily challenging environment" and warned it could take "a couple of days" or longer to complete the search of the stretch of river.
Ch Supt Buckley said: "We have been speaking to the dive team on site and visibility in the River Wensum is between zero and one foot underwater with temperatures as low as 4C.
"As soon as you reach one foot in front of you, visibility goes and then there's obviously leaves, branches, debris, and the flow of the river to contend with, which is the biggest problem because there's been so much rainfall."
Sonar equipment is also being used in the search, he added.
A total of 60 officers are involved in the operation to find her.