Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
nitrogenCarmel Fenech disappeared in her early thirties and her family is still searching for her. Her sister, Mandy, often slept in her car, parked outside a former spot in Carmel. disappeared In 1998, I was unwilling to give up the search.
Carmel is one of five siblings in a close-knit Peckham family; Absence never loosens its grip on them. Time passes and life moves on, but the unanswered question of what happened to her remains as raw as ever.
Her mother, Deirdre Fenech, tells us independent: “Even now I’m still looking for a 16-year-old girl, not a 40-year-old woman.
“That was my baby. That was my nine-month-old baby…she was gone longer than I held her. I will never give up looking for her.”
independent £165,000 raised start up secure calla free new service can help 70,000 children are reported missing every year Find support and safety no matter what, and keep fighting for the cause. Ms Fenech knows how heartbreakingly painful it is for a child to go missing.
donate here Or text SAFE to 70577 to donate £10 to Missing People – enough for one child to get help.
When Carmel, like many 14-year-olds, started making new friends, attending parties and staying out late, her mother didn’t think much of it.
But what she didn’t know was that Carmel had already begun experimenting with crack cocaine. She doesn’t look like a drug addict and is never rude or moody. “She always had a great personality and was always funny,” her mother said.
It wasn’t until Ms Fenech went to a friend’s house to look for her that she was told Carmel had fallen in with “bad people” and was addicted to drugs.
“It hit me like a sledgehammer,” Ms. Fenech said.
Carmel began disappearing for days, sleeping in abandoned garages, strange houses or stairwells. “My son and I, we searched everywhere… we kicked down the door of the house, we worked with the main drug dealer to find her,” she added.
It became a routine part of their lives. Her family would find her, or she would come home with a big smile and then disappear again a few days later.
“I was filled with anger, not at her, but at the people who were involved with her. I used to take the kids to school in the morning, go find her, come back, take them home…and then my son and I would be walking down the street at one, two, three, four, five o’clock in the morning,” she explained.
Ms. Fenech lost count of how many times she was reported missing.
Even though Carmel knew she could always come home and her mother knew she would come back, she would still go out and look for her just to make sure she was okay.
Ms Fenech moved her family to Crawley, West Sussex, to get away from the people around her.
But even so, Carmel continued to leave, spending a few days in London before returning home again.
Ms Fenech was told Carmel was at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court on the day her daughter completely disappeared. As Carmel left, a police officer spoke to her on the stairs, but she told him to go away.
Carmel was reportedly spotted leaving the courthouse with an unidentified man.
Detective Inspector Chris Rambour, of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Squad, said: “We are particularly interested in identifying and speaking to a man who was with Carmel on May 21, 1998. “There is no description of him yet but he clearly knew her.”
He said that information had been established since the case began, but her mother said she disputed it and believed Carmel was alone.
Ms. Fenech never expected that this would be Carmel’s last appearance. She planned an RV vacation for the family and planned to give her daughter a week before searching.
But when she returned, two weeks after Carmel left court, Ms Fenech had not received her call.
Ms Fenech added: “That’s when I knew. Deep down in your heart you feel something is very wrong.”
She said she was let down by police assigned to the Carmel case and worried she would never know what happened to her daughter.
Ms Fenech had a “shaky” feeling and was afraid of moving in case Carmel came home. “We live in a strange, scary world and just don’t know it,” she added.
Detective Inspector Ramble said: “Our search for Carmel continues and our thoughts are with her and her family throughout this investigation in hopes of finding the answers they deserve.
“Carmel has not been forgotten and we are once again appealing to the public to come forward with any information that can help us find her.”
Paul Joseph, director of the Missing Persons Hotline, said: “We continue to offer our full support to Deirdre Fenech, the mother of missing 16-year-old Carmel Fenech. Our thoughts are with Deirdre and her family during this extremely difficult time and we remain committed to standing with them for as long as they need us.”
“No family should have to face the pain of a missing loved one alone and we will continue to do everything we can to support their search and well-being.”
please Donate now Independent and missing people’s SafeCall campaign has raised £165,000 to create a free national service to help vulnerable children find safety and support.
If you or a loved one are missing and need advice, support and options, text or call the missing people charity on 116 000. It’s free, confidential and non-judgmental. or visit www.missingpeople.org.uk/get-help