One call could stop their pain

Local & National

Please give us the vital clue so Lisa can be laid to rest

On the third anniversary of the disappearance of Lisa Dorrian, Deborah McAleese reports on the family's tireless campaign to find her body and how they refuse to give up hope

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Just one phone call could help end three years of agony for Lisa Dorrian's tormented family.

Somebody knows what happened to the pretty 25- year-old on February 28, 2005, and where her body is hidden - but for 1095 long days they have remained silent.

Every morning her family hopes today will be the day that person breaks their silence and shares the secret that could lead them to Lisa.

On the afternoon of March 4, 2005, the PSNI issued a statement saying they were becoming increasingly concerned about a 25-year-old Co Down woman, Lisa Dorrian, who had not been seen for five days since a party in Ballyhalbert, and that a crime could not be ruled out.

From that moment, Lisa's disappearance gripped the public's attention.

When it was finally confirmed that a murder inquiry had been launched, the mystery of what happened to the blonde sandwich-shop assistant, with dreams of buying a house or starting a life abroad, sparked public alarm.

Overnight, Lisa's family was launched into the spotlight as they made impassioned appeals for help to find their daughter and sister.

They issued a £30,000 reward for information, launched a website to raise awareness of Lisa's disappearance, posted advertisements on billboards, trailer boards and bus shelters and urged people to wear blue Ribbons of Hope to show support.

As they embarked on their brave campaign they found themselves in a surreal world where they were offered support from people like US singer Donny Osmond and former PM Tony Blair, to Milltown killer Michael Stone.

When Stone offered to meet Lisa's killers, after police confirmed loyalist paramilitaries - believed to be the LVF - were being linked to the murder, her sister Joanne summed up the family's incredulity at the life they had found themselves in. She said: "It just goes to show you how crazy the situation my family finds itself in."

The interest in the case has been unprecedented - the lisadorrian.co.uk website had 5 million hits in just one week - and helped keep the case in the public eye. The family's tireless fight to find Lisa's body has won them support from across the globe. However, the family campaign has not always been welcome.

In November 2005, they were forced to go to the Rathcoole estate on the outskirts of Belfast under police cover to remove a trailer board with a picture of Lisa after it was overturned. They have also had nasty messages posted on their website message board.

Detectives investigating Lisa's murder insist that everything is being done to lead them to her body and killer. However, the investigation does not appear to be moving anywhere fast. Over the past three years several leads have been followed and a number of arrests made, but nobody has been charged.

The Dorrian family show no sign of giving up hope.

All it would take is one call to disclose the secret of what happened to Lisa and allow her family to lay her to rest.