Where is Mandy?

Police hunting for missing Shropshire mother Mandy Franks have carried out searches of her home and the River Severn – as detectives today admitted they have no idea what has happened to her.

It comes as police revealed the woman thought to be the 40-year-old mother of one spotted in Shrewsbury’s Reflex nightclub was not her, and hours after partner Jody Evans made an emotional plea for her to come home.

Miss Franks, who is originally from Telford and worked at Capgemini and EDS in the town, was last seen six days ago in Shrewsbury town centre.

Mr Evans broke down in tears as he made an emotional plea for the “love of his life” to come home.

• In Friday’s Shropshire Star:
• Full details of the police search
• Friends tell of their shock
• Police team launch hunt

Mr Evans, a building worker, faced the media yesterday and revealed he and Miss Franks had parted on bad terms.

Mr Evans last saw his partner of more than two years on Saturday night after he left her in Frank Cafe Bar in Frankwell, Shrewsbury, to go and see a friend.

Police know she then went to Montgomery’s Tower bar, just across the Welsh Bridge, arriving at about 10.15pm.

It had been thought a woman, who was seen chatting to several people at the Reflex club in the early hours of Sunday, might have been Miss Franks.

But Detective Chief Inspector Jon Groves, who is leading the search, today said the woman had been eliminated from the inquiry following examination of CCTV images.

He said: “We are now satisfied that the woman we thought might have been Mandy was not her.

“As a result, we are no longer looking for the two men who had spoken to this woman and whose descriptions were issued yesterday.

“However, we do know Mandy left the Frank Cafe Bar in Frankwell at around 10pm on Saturday, making her way across the Welsh Bridge to the Montgomery’s Tower pub where she arrived about 10.15pm.

“We also believe she had a brief conversation with a doorman outside Montgomery’s Tower between 11.50pm and 12.05am.

“That is the last reported sighting of Mandy and we have received no information since then relating to her whereabouts.”

Mr Groves said more than 50 officers were working on the case and stressed the importance of any helpful information being passed to the incident room at Shrewsbury police station on 08457 444888 as a matter of urgency.

“It is now six days since she was last seen and as time passes we are becoming increasingly concerned,” he said. “We need people to contact us immediately if they know anything which might help.”

Mr Groves said police had spoken to scores of people in seeking to piece her movements together and to obtain fresh leads.

Other strands of the investigation included house to house inquiries and the collection and viewing of CCTV footage.

He said Mr Evans and Miss Franks’s family were being kept updated on all aspects of the search and of any developments. “At the moment we just do not know what has happened to her and I would stress again the need for people to come forward promptly if they have any information which could help, however insignificant it might seem,” he said.