Search for the truth about what happened to Georgina Gharsallah

Being the Senior Investigating Officer on any Major Crime investigation is all about people.

Of course the victims and their family first, and then as well: friends; communities; journalists and media outlets; partners; police staff and officers working on the case, and on other cases. Nothing in policing can ever work without all the people, and we can do very little without the support, assistance and confidence of all those people who give something to progress an investigation. 

In the search for the truth about what happened to Georgina, we have encountered so many people. Most share our determination to get answers for Georgina’s family and it is on that shared journey that our paths have crossed, but others have, and continue to work against the investigation, usually unintentionally, but others certainly deliberately for their own purposes.

Georgina’s family, especially Georgina’s mum Andrea, strive to keep Georgina’s story in the public eye. Andrea has worked tirelessly making banners, posters, leaflets, engaging with people on social media, appearing in documentaries, speaking to and giving support to the families of other people who have been missing for a long time. I am an admirer of Andrea and her ability and willingness to keep going and keep driving Georgina’s story.  

We have had great support from people who work in charities and our wider partners. Crimestoppers and the Missing Person Charity have consistently provided support, publicity, funds, and rewards. Their staff are knowledgeable, dedicated and compassionate; we are grateful that they are doing such good out there.

We have been supported significantly by the National Crime Agency as well as TraceLabs; the Crown Prosecution Service; Interpol; Overseas Law Enforcement; expert witnesses. Everyone has brought their considerable experience to bear to try to support the investigation into Georgina’s disappearance, people have been consistently captured by her story and want to help. The team has followed up every reasonable line of enquiry.     

The media have a vital role to play in any investigation, reporting facts transparently so that the public know what is happening, as well as ensuring a wide audience to encourage witnesses to come forward. Again, I’m grateful for the support that we have had to try to achieve the greatest public awareness for the investigation into Georgina’s disappearance which has included: national and local print news; local and national online news outlets; local news segments; BBC Crimewatch; ITV This Morning; documentaries – with and without invitations for us to contribute. And our own media team have made some powerful appeals on Georgina’s birthdays and anniversaries of her disappearance every year since 2018; you can find the links to them on the Sussex Police Website. It is true that coverage has reduced over time, and for the last of our media releases we have had no calls from possible witnesses, but someone knows something and we want to reach them, so we continue to try.  

Police officers and staff have worked consistently on investigating Georgina’s disappearance, have always done so, and continue to. The investigation has had the same case officer from the very first day that the investigation came to the Major Crime Team, right through to today. Hundreds of people have been involved in the investigation: Detectives, Neighbourhood Policing Team officers, Missing Person Teams; Police Community Support Officers, Forensic Officers; Digital Media Investigators; RIPA Compliance Officers; Financial Investigators; Intelligence Officers; Researchers; Analysts; Media & Communications Officers; Search Advisors; Search Trained Officers; Major Crime Review Officers; Family Liaison Officers; all united in the desire to find out what happened to Georgina to get answers for her family.

We have spoken to hundreds of potential witnesses. The vast majority of witnesses speak to us in good faith, because they feel it is the right thing to do. We are grateful to them all and wherever reasonable and justified to do so, we have followed up on all that we have been told. Despite this, it is true that we have not solved Georgina’s case.

And then the people who are, for some unknown reason, causing difficulties for Georgina’s family and those of us who seek to discover the truth, and get answers. 

Whoever knows what happened on that day seven years ago is obviously foremost of those that seek to prevent us finding out what happened; it’s clear that they lack the courage or compassion to speak to us. I have written to them in an open letter on the seventh anniversary of Georgina’s disappearance.

Then there are those who pretend to be witnesses for their own ends. Telling us things that are not genuinely in their knowledge, untrue, or even insinuating that they know something and then refusing to speak to us when we come to them.

There are the rumourmongers. It’s hard to believe that people would be so callous as to intentionally spread rumours about what may have happened to someone’s daughter, mother, sister, friend, but we have encountered so many different rumours. We follow up on all reasonable lines of enquiry, and we have had to spend lots of time separating fact from fiction generated by people who simply do not care about Georgina or her family. I don’t think people can even begin to understand the distress they cause to Georgina’s family when they share and spread the most terrible rumours and lies about Georgina herself and what happened on the 7 March 2018. 

We continue to see people make theories and suggestions about what could have happened to Georgina. We have had people tell us that Georgina is working in a coffee shop in Broadwater, a stone’s throw from her home; has started a new family overseas; has opened a nail bar in the north of England; has been trafficked; is a hostage and many other theories that are not grounded in any evidence or truth. We know some of these are from people genuinely trying to help, but others are purely speculative and present nothing but false hope to Georgina’s family.

I am extremely grateful to all the people who I have come into contact with during the course of the investigation, who have shared information with the genuine desire of finding out what happened on that day in 2018.

The one person I haven’t found is Georgina. She is the person at the centre of everything, who is loved and missed by so many, who deserves someone to come forward and tell the truth.

Written by Detective Superintendent Andy Wolstenholme