‘Significant possibility’ missing woman entered the river, police say

Police searching for missing mother Victoria Taylor have said there is a “significant possibility” she entered a river after recovering further CCTV footage of her walking towards a play park near the water’s edge.

Ms Taylor, 34, disappeared from her home in Malton, North Yorkshire, on Monday September 30 and a number of her personal possessions were found close to the River Derwent in the town.

North Yorkshire Police have said extensive searches by officers and drones have been carried out, including the use of divers and specialist sonar equipment.

Giving an update on the search on Wednesday, Chief Superintendent Fiona Willey said Ms Taylor’s family were going through an “unimaginable level of distress” following her disappearance nine days ago.

Officers have already said Ms Taylor left her home at 9am on Monday last week and was then seen on CCTV at 11.35am at the BP garage on Welham Road in the Norton area of Malton, where she purchased several items.

A further sighting was captured at 11.53am at Malton bus station on Railway Street.

Chief Superintendent Fiona Willey told reporters that, in this footage, “Victoria is seen to be carrying a bag which we believe contains the items she purchased at the BP garage.

“Additional witness evidence supports the fact that Victoria did not enter the station and we have no reason to believe that she used public transport at that time.

“In the last 24 hours we have also recovered further CCTV footage which shows Victoria walking towards the play park on Riverside Walk. This was at 12.30pm.

“Various items that belonged to Victoria have been recovered from this location.”

Chief Superintendent Willey said there was no indication of any third party involvement.

She told reporters: “Based on the discovery of Victoria’s belongings so close to the water’s edge, we must accept the significant possibility that Victoria has entered the River Derwent.

“Searches are currently under way, taking place on the river, and those searches have been taking place above and below the water surface.

“The team are using specialist sonar equipment which gives officers a view below the surface. The use of this specialist resource will continue in the coming days.

“Additional specialist police search officers are using drones to scour the rural areas close to where Victoria’s possessions were also found.”

Chief Superintendent Willey said the disappearance of Ms Taylor had shocked the local community, and the family “take comfort in the overwhelming amount of support from people both locally and further afield”.

She added: “We have seen a small amount of misinformation and speculation, which is not helpful and is causing unnecessary anguish to Victoria’s family at this time.

“Victoria’s family have made it clear following the sharing of this inaccurate information that their wish is to work only with North Yorkshire Police.”

Last week, Ms Taylor’s sisters Emma and Heidi said in a statement: “We currently feel sick, distraught and lost following the disappearance of Vixx, but we are trying to focus on the children in the family to maintain a sense of routine at this difficult time.”

Ms Taylor has been described as white, approximately 5ft 6in, and was last seen wearing blue jeans, a black Adidas original puffer-style jacket with white stripes down the sleeves, a grey Jack Wills hooded jumper and she was carrying a salmon/pink Vans backpack.

Local people have been meeting every day to search for Ms Taylor and the family used their statement to urge everyone to keep safe as they work along the banks of the swollen river.

On Wednesday, many businesses in the town displayed posters appealing for information about Ms Taylor’s disappearance.