Nicola Payne 20 years on: Parents want chance to say goodbye

The heartbroken parents of missing Coventry mum Nicola Payne say they want the chance to lay their ‘‘little girl to rest’’.



Today (Wedneday) is the 20th anniversary of the disappearance of young city mum Nicola Payne.

Her 66-year-old mum Marilyn told the Telegraph: “I can’t believe it’s 20 years but when you sit and think, it has had such a big impact on our lives.

"It’s like the clock stopped that day and it’s still going slow. It’s like the clock can’t catch up with the time now.

“We need to have her found, so we can lay her to rest, so we can have closure.

"The pain would still be there but the searching would be gone. I am not so bothered who is to blame anymore, that is a matter for the police, but we need to find her.

“This year it has been 20 long years. Please somebody – make a phone call, write anonymously, just tell us where she can be found.”

Eighteen-year-old Nicola disappeared on December 14, 1991.

She had left her boyfriend Jason Cooke and their six-month-old son Owen at Jason’s house in Winston Avenue, Henley Green, to walk to the home she shared with her parents and her son in Woodway Close, Woodway Park, just 10 minutes away.

It is believed she took a shortcut across waste ground but Nicola never reached her destination.

Her disappearance sparked a major police investigation, but officers have never discovered what happened to her.

A fresh investigation was launched in 2007.

Shortly afterwards a man was arrested in connection with the disappearance but was later released without charge.