COUNTY NEWS: 'Never-ending grieving' for mum of woman missing for four months

The mother of a woman who has been missing for four months has described the ordeal as '˜never-ending grieving'.
Andrea Gharsallah, 56. Picture: Derek MartinAndrea Gharsallah, 56. Picture: Derek Martin
Andrea Gharsallah, 56. Picture: Derek Martin

Andrea Gharsallah last saw Georgina, 30, on March 7 at her home in Normandy Road, Worthing. 
As the days turned into weeks, the carer never stopped searching. With her three other daughters, Andrea, 56, started a page on Facebook which has had thousands of views.
She said: "The way I describe it to people is like never-ending grieving.

“It has taken over my life. It is all I think about, all the time. My daughter said, why don’t you watch a film tonight, mum, and turn the laptop off – but it’s what I should be doing.”
Ten days before going missing, Andrea said Georgina split up with her boyfriend and moved back in with her – but was still staying at both houses, and wanted to move to Brighton.
Andrea added that on the morning she went missing, Georgina said her phone was not working and that she would go to the job centre – the last conversation she had with her mother.
For a few days, Andrea thought she was staying with friends, but then she called the police when Georgina did not reply to her messages. 
Investigations showed she never visited the job centre, and her phone had not been used since 3am on March 7.
Three weeks later, police discovered her bank cards had not been used either and began treating her case as suspicious, Andrea said. 
Officers searched her home and asked her to write down everywhere she had been for 20 days. Andrea said: “It has been really stressful. I didn’t know I was going to be put under this kind of scrutiny. I would never do anything to hurt my daughter.”
Once she was cleared, along with Georgina’s ex-boyfriend and other contacts in her phone, lines of enquiry dried up. The police are running Georgina’s disappearance through a statistics database to match with similar cases, but it is proving difficult due to Georgina’s lifestyle, her mother said.
An avid cook, Georgina grew up in Libya for ten years, had several short-lived admin jobs and is a mother of two Andrea said. She described Georgina as seemingly confident, but with underlying anxieties. 
To her daughter she said: “We love you – at least get in contact with us. Just let us know you are safe.”

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Georgina is white, 5ft 4in, with shoulder-length dark hair, often worn in a top knot, and has a Monroe-style piercing above her lip.
If you see Georgina, call 999. Witnesses can also call 101 quoting 603 of 17/03.

Andrea Gharsallah, 56. Picture: Derek MartinAndrea Gharsallah, 56. Picture: Derek Martin
Andrea Gharsallah, 56. Picture: Derek Martin

The timeline of Georgina's disappearance

+On March 7, Georgina Gharsallah left her mother Andrea’s house in Normandy Road, Worthing.
+CCTV footage showed her leaving the Clifton Food and Wine off licence store in Clifton Road, Worthing, at 9.30am – the last official sighting.
+On April 20, police said a witness claimed they saw the 30-year-old with two men in Tarring Road at the junction with Clifton Road, Worthing, between 7 and 8pm on the day she went missing. This account has now been discredited by the police, according to Andrea.
+Meanwhile, Andrea sent out missing posters and uploaded video appeals on Facebook, including one with over 10,000 views. She claimed there had been several sightings, but was a woman who looked like her daughter and was known to the police.