Georgina Gharsallah: Mum has 'absolutely no information' five years after daughter disappeared

Yesterday (Tuesday, March 7) marked exactly five years since the Worthing mum-of-two vanished in broad daylight. CCTV footage showed Georgina – then aged 30 – leaving the Clifton Food and Wine shop in Clifton Road, Worthing, at 9.30am. She has not been seen since.

Five years on, mum Andrea remains committed to her desperate, painstaking search. She invited the media, along with friends and family – and even strangers with an interest in the case – to O'Connor's on Warwick Street on Tuesday, to mark the anniversary of her daughter’s disappearance.

Speaking to SussexWorld, she said: “We are here for the five year anniversary just to commemorate it and invite people’s support and thank those who have supported us over the years.

"We’ve got lots of information, posters, forget me not seeds just to help keep Georgina’s memory in everyone’s thoughts and keep her at the forefront of everyone’s minds.”

The mum-of-two’s disappearance has left detectives baffled but her family will not give up hope.

Sussex Police said this week that the case has brought together people from all corners of the community, ‘alongside a dedicated police team’, to ‘try and find the answers’ Georgina’s heartbroken family ‘so desperately need and deserve’.

“She’s a mummy to two young boys who really miss her,” Andrea said. “They just wait everyday for mummy to come home. That’s the hardest thing about it.

"Her children not understanding what’s happened to their mummy. She was here one day and gone the next, with absolutely no information as to what happened to her.

"It’s really heartbreaking. That’s what drives me the most to try and find answers. We want to keep creating awareness all the time and keep Georgina’s story out there.

“She’s very friendly. Very bubbly very chatty. She liked cooking, music. She loved her boys, she was devoted to them. I don’t believe she would ever have left them by choice.”

Andrea admitted it was ‘really hard’ to keep up the fight, adding: “I’m always thinking what else can I do, how can I do a different poster that attracts people’s attention – so they don’t just pick it up and think it’s just another missing person.

"People are helping me with videos and live streams on TikToks. I’ve running a poster campaign and have sent hundreds to different parts of the country.

"People ask why I want it up in Wales or Lancashire but it’s just a chance that someone who might have seen her that day might be somewhere else now. They might know something.

"It’s just leaving no stone unturned and exhausting every single possibility – anything we can do.”

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Andrea said public support ‘fluctuates’ but has recently improved following high-profile missing person cases, particularly Nicola Bulley.

“It’s lifted up quite dramatically,” she said. “Especially with lots of other missing people that hadn’t had much publicity.

"I’m aware of most of the missing cases but there was some I hadn’t heard of. I thought that was quite sad so I shared them on my page. It’s really sad when missing are missing but nobody is pushing their profiles out there.”

Addressing those who have helped her own search, Andrea said: “Thank you to everyone who has been supporting us. Please keep supporting us and keep Georgina in your thoughts.

"You can’t really imagine what it’s like unless you’re in the situation yourself. I never did.

"There are people that are devoted. Strangers are following us and sending us ideas, writing messages to lift you up and say we’re with you.

"That’s nice when you read that. We do get some of the horrible ones but it’s nice we have random strangers supporting you.”

Detective Superintendent Andy Wolstenholme, who is leading the police investigation into Georgina’s disappearance, said he and his team are ‘as committed today as we were on day one’ to finding out what happened to Georgina.

However, Andrea said she does ‘not really’ feel encouraged, adding that there has been a lack of communication with the police throughout the search.

She said: “It’s been quite flat for the last couple of years. I do contact them and ask lots of questions.

"It’s been almost a year since we last had a meeting. They said they haven’t really got anything to tell me but it would be nice to have that communication to keep that bond.

"They are investigating the disappearance of my daughter and we haven’t got any information. I find that quite hard.

"People think police are in constant communication with us but it’s not like that. It’s better now than it was in the first year as we did our lose faith in the police at that time.

"If they say they are doing what we can, we can only believe that.

"Hopefully some information comes through and takes us out of this life – this bubble I call it. It’s an endless bubble that everything is revolved around missing people, crime, murder. That’s what life has become. Hopefully we get some information.”

In August 2019, Georgina’s disappearance was recorded as a homicide and Crimestoppers are offering a £20,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible.

Det. Supt Wolstenholme added: “We know Georgina is a much-loved mother, sister, and daughter and it’s hugely out of character for her to be out of touch with her family for such a long time.

“When you consider how long it has been, and the fact we’ve not been able to find any evidence of Georgina being active on her phone or bank accounts or had any physical sightings of her, we have to consider the possibility she’s come to harm, possibly at the hands of someone else.

“Recording the case as a homicide isn’t meant to take away hope of finding Georgina safe – and no one would be happier to be proved wrong than myself – but so that we could be open, honest and transparent about what it was we thought we were investigating and what we were deploying our resources to.”

Police said the investigation into Georgina’s disappearance ‘remains open and ongoing’ and anyone who has information relating to the case – ‘no matter how small or insignificant they think it might be’ – is asked to report it online, or by calling 101 quoting Operation Pavo.

Information can also be passed anonymously to the investigation team via the independent charity Crimestoppers online or by calling 0800 555 111. Both options are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.