By Julie Waters
THE family of murdered Bangor woman Lisa Dorrian have urged local people to ‘search your conscience’ in a new appeal and help bring her body home.
The series of billboard and digital adverts urge those with information to ‘speak up’ and ‘end the nightmare’ in the run up to what would have been Lisa’s 45th birthday on June 12.
The billboards have been placed in targeted areas including Newtownards, Belfast city centre, the Shore Road and Upper Newtownards Road in a bid to prompt people to come forward.
Lisa was just 25 years old when she went missing from a caravan park in Ballyhalbert in February 2005. Police believe she was murdered.
Thousands of lines of enquiry have been examined by police; extensive search operations have been carried out with the most recent in Ballyhalbert’s picturesque Clay Pits, but Lisa’s body has not been recovered nor her killers brought to justice.
Lisa’s mum Patricia died in 2015, aged just 59, never knowing where her daughter was. Her family recently took the difficult decision to add Lisa’s name to her late mother’s headstone.
Lisa’s sister Joanne explained their latest campaign came about thanks to the generosity of a local business. “We were approached by a local business, who wishes to remain anonymous, about sponsoring the billboards for Lisa.
“They had been following the campaign and wanted to help. They have been placed in specific areas where we believe people may have information. We are trying to motivate people to come out and tell us where she is.”
Said Joanne: “On June 12 Lisa would have been 45. That age alone makes us think how long this journey has been for us and how long she has been missing.
“She has went from being a young woman to being 45 and it seems like a lifetime ago that she was just 25. When we all sit down together and think about everything that’s happened, what would she be doing now, it’s all those what ifs, that she was robbed of.”
Joanne praised the police for their ongoing investigation into Lisa’s murder. “Lisa’s is a difficult and complex case but Lisa gets everything she deserves from the PSNI,” she said.
“We met with them just a month ago and they are pushing forward. After 19 years we are very lucky to have an active investigation that’s progressing forwards and hopefully to justice.”
Joanne said Lisa’s 45th birthday will be a ‘difficult’ milestone for the family.
“It will be a difficult day for the family. I try and tell myself that it will not be any worse than any other day, but in reality your body just feels it, you don’t have a choice.
“Grief takes over and the longing to have her back again, it is always more prominent on birthdays and this is a big birthday.
“We will spend some time at Lisa’s Garden of Thoughts, we will all get together and chat about her, smile at the good memories we have.”
