No evidence of ‘third-party involvement’ in woman’s disappearance, say police

Police searching for Victoria Taylor have said there is “no information to suggest any form of third-party involvement” in her disappearance, as they revealed a new sighting of the 34-year-old on the day she went missing.

Ms Taylor disappeared from her home in Malton, North Yorkshire, on Monday September 30 and a number of her personal possessions were found close to the River Derwent in the town.

North Yorkshire Police have said extensive searches by officers and drones have been carried out, including the use of divers and specialist sonar equipment.

On Monday, the force said it is continuing to search for Ms Taylor, saying she left her home at 9am on Monday last week.

Officers have already said she was then seen on CCTV at 11.35am at the BP garage on Welham Road in the Norton area of Malton.

They said they now have a further sighting of Ms Taylor, which was captured at 11.53am at Malton bus station on Railway Street.

A spokesman said: “To date, this is the last confirmed sighting of Victoria.

“We remain open-minded and whilst the investigation of Victoria’s movements has been thorough, we will continue to pursue existing and new lines of inquiry.

“Based on information obtained from these exhaustive inquiries, North Yorkshire Police is satisfied at the current time that there is no information to suggest any form of third-party involvement following the disappearance of Victoria and this remains a missing person case.”

The spokesman said: “On Tuesday, we recovered several personal items belonging to Victoria near to the River Derwent. This area is where we are currently focusing our search efforts and the public can expect to see continued activity in the coming days”.

Inspector Martin Dennison said: “This is an extremely difficult time for Victoria’s family and we are continuing to do all we can to try and find her.

“The focus of our search remains the area around the River Derwent and Victoria’s family members are aware of this and the wider strategy that is in place.

“The family and the police understand the local community wanting to show their support with the searches for Victoria, but we urge people to exercise caution when searching particularly near to the river.”

Last week, Ms Taylor’s sisters Emma and Heidi said in a statement: “We currently feel sick, distraught and lost following the disappearance of Vixx, but we are trying to focus on the children in the family to maintain a sense of routine at this difficult time.”

The statement added: “The wider local community has also rallied around and we are eternally grateful for the support that they have given to us, Vixx’s family.”

Ms Taylor has been described as white, approximately 5ft 6ins, and was last seen wearing blue jeans, a black Adidas original puffer jacket with white stripes down the sleeves, a grey Jack Wills hooded jumper and she was carrying a salmon/pink Vans backpack.

Last week, the force released a CCTV image showing Ms Taylor at the BP garage on Welham Road and they released a further image, from the bus station, on Monday.

A spokesman said that, as well as the river search and use of drones, officers have reviewed hours of CCTV from around Malton where she was last seen.

Local people have been meeting every day to search for Ms Taylor and the family used their statement to urge everyone to keep safe as they work along the banks of the swollen river.

On Monday, officers could be seen in the River Derwent in a boat using sonar equipment.