Heartbroken father’s appeal for missing daughter

The father of missing student Sophie Smith has made a desperate direct plea for her to ‘come home’ as it emerged police have CCTV of her running towards the sea.

Martin Knowles has refused to give up hope that Sophie, 21, is still alive despite running from her seaside home in Gorleston at 3am on Boxing Day, wearing only shorts and a vest.

In a video message for his vulnerable daughter, who has been battling anxiety and depression, he said:  ‘Sophie just come home please. Your mum loves you, I love you. All of your friends in your home town of Gorleston want you back. 

He added: ‘We just want to tell you how much we love you. We just want to put our arms around you. Don’t worry about anything. Just come home.’ 

Martin Knowles has refused to give up hope that Sophie, 21, is still alive despite running from her seaside home at 3am on Boxing Day, wearing only shorts and a vest as he begged her to return home

Pictured: Missing Sophie Smith, 21, from Gorleston, Norfolk

Sophie Smith disappeared from her family home in Gorleston in the early hours of Boxing Day

Pictured: Missing Sophie Smith, 21, from Gorleston, Norfolk, has not been seen since 3am on Boxing Day and has been battling depression and anxiety

Members of the public search under the pier in Yarmouth yesterday as the hunt for Sophie continues

Members of the public search under the pier in Yarmouth yesterday as the hunt for Sophie continues

Mr Knowles, a father-of-two who works for the NHS, said: ‘We have not given up hope. We are still praying and hoping that Sophie will walk through her mum’s door and just come home so we can put our arms around her and tell her how much we love her.’ 

Missing posters are being distributed in the area and more than 17,000 people have joined a Find Sophie Smith Facebook group

Missing posters are being distributed in the area and more than 17,000 people have joined a Find Sophie Smith Facebook group

He admitted she had been through ‘a bit of a hard time recently’ but said she was a ‘happy go-lucky, full of life and very popular’ young woman who was ‘liked by a lot of people’. 

Police have found CCTV which they believe shows missing student Sophie Smith running towards the sea in the early hours of Boxing Day.

As the search for Miss Smith, 21, enters its fourth day today, the inspector leading the investigation said the ‘working theory’ was that she had run into the water after opening up to her mother about depressive thoughts. 

Police Inspector Will Drummond, from Norfolk Police, said that the chances of finding Miss Smith alive were ‘diminishing’ as teams of locals yesterday combed through woodlands and fields.

Miss Smith, from Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk, who was in her second year studying Biomedicine at the University of East Anglia, had been ‘withdrawn’ over the festive period after suffering from ‘severe anxiety and depression’, he said.

Her mother Lynn Shaw, 56, and stepfather Kevin Shaw, 60, who run an antiques shop in the seaside town, heard the door slam at 3am on Boxing Day and started frantically searching before calling the police.

Miss Smith, who was home from university for the Christmas holidays, did not have her phone on her when she ran out of the house and was dressed in shorts and a vest top.

Sophie's father Martin Knowles, pictured with her aunt Rachel Russell, left, and Sophie's sister Sarah, pictured right, have appealed for help in finding the missing youngster

Sophie’s father Martin Knowles, pictured with her aunt Rachel Russell, left, and Sophie’s sister Sarah, pictured right, have appealed for help in finding the missing youngster

Groups are walking the beach and North Sea shoreline as they look for missing Sophie

Groups are walking the beach and North Sea shoreline as they look for missing Sophie

Local people also searched fields between Gorleston and Great Yarmouth as the search for Sophie was stepped up

Local people also searched fields between Gorleston and Great Yarmouth as the search for Sophie was stepped up

Despite a police operation which involved helicopters, boats and land searches, officers have found nothing.

Popular: Hundreds of people shared appeals on social media to try and find Sophie

Popular: Hundreds of people shared appeals on social media to try and find Sophie

Inspector Drummond said of the operation: ‘She went missing at her home address on Boxing Day at 3am…what we’ve got is an image of her, which we believe to be her, running from the home address and towards the beach on Avondale Road. She is wearing…a vest top and shorts, which is unprepared for the weather.

‘What I can say is that from speaking to the family in great detail, Sophie suffers from severe anxiety and depression which she was being treated for. There was a level of what I would call preparation prior to running off to what happened.’

‘I think a combination of the preparation, her mental state at the time and comments made may suggest there’s a likelihood that unfortunately she may have gone into the sea,’ he added.

After lengthy conversations with Miss Smith’s family, Inspector Drummond said police had discovered that she had made ‘preparations’ prior to her disappearance – but would not say what that involved.

Police have analysed her phone, social media and made inquiries about recent discussions she had with family and friends, he said.

Of her mental state, Inspector Drummond said: ‘We believe she’s been talking about it with family before, talking about her anxiety and depression and we think this has maybe been a trigger.’

‘The theory is that if she has gone into the sea, unfortunately, we need to be looking at the tides and how that would impact.

‘We are treating it as a live missing person’s inquiry but we have got to take the consideration that there is likelihood unfortunately that she has gone into the sea,’ he added.

Missing: The University of East Anglia student was last seen on Boxing Day 

Missing: The University of East Anglia student was last seen on Boxing Day 

Police are going door to door in the area

Sophie's step sister Lauren and father Kevin Shaw organised beach searches

Police are going door to door while Sophie’s step sister Lauren and father Kevin Shaw organised beach searches

Dozens of volunteers also gathered in Norfolk woods to look for any signs of the missing student

Dozens of volunteers also gathered in Norfolk woods to look for any signs of the missing student

Increasingly worried: Norfolk Police said they were growing concerned for Sophie after she was last seen around 3am on Tuesday in Gorleston-on-Sea near Great Yarmouth 

Emotional appeal: Distraught Lynn Shaw from Great Yarmouth pleaded with her 21-year-old daughter to return home 

Emotional appeal: Distraught Lynn Shaw from Great Yarmouth pleaded with her 21-year-old daughter to return home 

Earlier, Miss Smith’s stepsister Lauren Shaw, 26, and stepfather led around 15 friends and volunteers on a search of the seafront in Gorleston and around Great Yarmouth.

She said: ‘We are just searching beaches where the tide would have washed something up – but we are hoping we do not find anything. We cannot really say anything else.’    

More than 17,000 joined a Find Sophie Smith Facebook group after it was created yesterday afternoon.

People have been posting updates on what areas have been searched for her on the page and have organised volunteer search parties to help with police appeal.

Volunteers started joining Norfolk Lowland Search and Rescue and lifeboat teams searching for Sophie yesterday. 

Three further searches have been organised in Gorleston and neighbouring coastal town Lowestoft, Suffolk. 

 



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