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Hi, and welcome back to The
Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing

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people, unresolved cases, and UK
true crime. Today, I'm bringing you

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an episode about Nicola Ray, a
mother of two who disappeared in two thousand.

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Nicola's story needs more coverage and I
first released this episode as a bonus

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episode on Patreon back in October of
twenty twenty two. I've decided to release

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this episode on the main feed because
more people need to hear her story,

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and while the episode is on the
shorter side, it's so important that everyone's

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stories are heard. This episode is
about a missing person and so does not

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contain any graphic details, but listener
discretion is always advised. The town of

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Basildon is located in the County of
in the east of England. There are

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three cities in the county, South
End, Colchester and Chelmsford, and Basildon

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is located relatively close to all of
these. As well as only being twenty

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six miles from London. It's a
well connected place, with people regularly commuting

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from there to central London for work, and it's good transport links makes it

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a popular choice with commuters. It's
also one of the most densely populated areas

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in the country, and the population
has grown rapidly throughout the twentieth century.

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Voicy Gardens is located around one point
four miles outside of the town center and

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sits close to a park and an
industrial estate. The relatively small street comprises

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of rows of two story terrace houses
with gardens. This street was where thirty

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year old Nicol Array was living with
her fiance, Timothy Barnes in the year

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two thousand. Nicola was the mother
of two daughters who were aged eleven and

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seven, and while it can be
assumed that they also lived with her at

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her address, it isn't actually clear
if they did. It's reported that the

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couple would you to be married in
August of two thousand. However, in

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an article in the Gazette and Standard
from two thousand and one, this is

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disputed, saying that they were meant
to be getting married in late May or

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June of that year. They were, however, definitely living together in May

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of that same year. Unfortunately,
there isn't much reported about Nicola as a

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person. However, from the statements
that we do have, it's clear that

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Nicola was a loving mother and would
very much do anything for her children.

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She was a sociable person who had
friends that she spent time with and they

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enjoyed being with her. She had
a job as a barmaid at the time,

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and it would appear that by May
of two thousand, Nicola was just

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going about her normal life life,
spending time with her children, seeing friends,

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and planning her wedding. Spending time
with friends was exactly what she was

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doing. On the evening of May
the second, two thousand, Nicola had

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planned on having a few drinks with
her friend Loretta Kelly and traveled to the

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Moon on the Square Poor Bim Basildon. This was around three point five miles

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from her home in Voicy Gardens.
Loretta reported that Nicola had been her normal

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self and there were no signs that
there was anything drastically wrong. In fact,

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the two women had then decided to
go back to Loretta's house in the

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early hours of the morning to carry
on their evening. Not long after,

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around one thirty am, Nicola decided
that she would make her way home.

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It was less than a mile from
Loretta's home to Nicola's and she set off

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walking to Voicey Gardens. This was
the normal evening and walking that distance home

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was something that many people would do, particularly after being on a night out.

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The problem this evening was that after
this walk home, Nicola seemed to

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vanish into thin air. It was
soon clear to people who knew Nicola that

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something was wrong when she didn't contact
them and no one knew where she was.

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When she hadn't contacted her two daughters, and hadn't been doing her normal

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routine, her friends and family began
to be concerned that something was wrong.

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It was soon figured out that Nicola
hadn't been seen since she had been out

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with Loretta Kelly on made the second
and had made the walk home. This

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was alarming given that Nicola had been
walking in the early hours of the morning

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and it wasn't known what had happened
to her. Since her friends and family

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were worried about her welfare, and
the police were soon involved in the missing

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person investigation. It was a concerning
case from the outset, given the circumstances

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that she had disappeared in and the
fact that she hadn't contacted anyone since that

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evening. It became even more worrying
when police looked at Nichola's bank records to

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see if they could trace her using
these. Since the night have made the

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second her bank account had been left
untouched. She hadn't taken any more out

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or spent any either. If she
didn't have any money on her then what

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was she using to live on.
This was a huge worry and police decided

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to search Nichola's home on Voicey Gardens. It has been reported that when the

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house was searched, they found that
some of her clothes appeared to be missing,

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but that she hadn't taken anything else
with her. It's also stated that

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police didn't find any evidence of a
suicide note in the house that would imply

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that she had left. For this
reason, it has been stated by some

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sources is that at the time of
Nicola's disappearance, she had been suffering from

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depression, and this may have been
the reason that police investigated this particular line

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of inquiry. Despite not finding anything
at the house that would leave them concerned,

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it seems that something led police to
continue to focus their efforts on her

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home. They carried out several digs
and searches at the site in the hope

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of recovering a piece of evidence that
would lead to a breakthrough. Unfortunately,

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though nothing was found to point to
what exactly happened to Nicola that night,

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Her timeline after she left Loretta's house
is unknown, and it isn't clear if

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she ever arrived home that night.
However, the fact that police were searching

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the address suggested that perhaps they did
believe that she may have made it home.

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People close to Nicola were interviewed,
including her fiance Timothy. The result

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of these interviews have never been published, and their statements have never been made.

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Loretta did speak to the press about
Nicola's disappearance that evening and spoke about

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how she'd been affected by it.
She told the Gazette and Standard in two

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thousand and one, I have prayed
that every knock on my door and every

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phone call I've ever received since then
is Nicola calling to say she's all right.

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But as the months have passed,
my hope has faded of ever seeing

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her again. It's really awful to
think she might be lying dead somewhere,

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but the thought of something dreadful happening
to her cannot be put out of my

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mind. Loretta explained that Nicola had
missed her eldest child's birthday and did not

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spend Christmas with them either. She
explained how out of character this was for

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her, saying she loved her kids
and it would take something serious for her

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not to contact them. This was
a sentiment which appeared to be shared by

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many people that knew Nicola, and
this for them unfortunately appointed to the possibility

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that she may have met with foul
play. Despite little being published about the

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actual investigation, inquiries were being made
for Nicola far and wide. Inquiries were

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made across the country, with friends
of hers in Liverpool being contacted and inquiries

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even being made with Police Scotland about
her disappearance. Her information was being put

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up and disseminated across the country in
the hope that someone knew something about where

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she had gone, but it appeared
that nobody had seen her. No sightings

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were made of Nicola after her disappearance, and this in itself was strange,

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given that in most missing person cases, information about possible sightings do regularly come

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in. This, no doubt,
caused her friends and family more distress,

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and the constant worrying about where she
was and what had happened to her must

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have been excruciating. In February two
thousand and one and announced it was made

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in the case. Timothy Barnes,
Nicola's fiance, had been arrested for questioning

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by police. This was a significant
development given that he was so close to

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the case and lived with Nicola.
This suggested that police perhaps were working a

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theory that he was in some way
involved in her disappearance. Timothy, however,

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was released without charge by police not
long after, and police revealed nothing

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about the reason for his arrest or
for his release. Nicola had still not

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been located and nor had any evidence
about what had happened to her that morning.

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The family were no closer to finding
out what had happened, and neither,

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it appeared, were the police.
After this point, Nicola's case began

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to grow cold, with nothing really
being reported or published in newspapers are by

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the police. Nichola's children grew up
without their mother and without knowing what happened

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to her in the early hours of
that morning. Ten years passed without much

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information at all being published. In
twenty ten, close to the ten year

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anniversary of Nicholas's disappearance, several developments
took place at once. In the middle

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of April twenty ten, Essex Police
announced that they were doing fresh searches of

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her home in voicy gardens, as
well as digging up areas around the home.

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They used X ray devices and ground
penetrating radar to analyze anything that might

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be buried underneath the garden or the
floor. This had already been done in

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two thousand when she initially disappeared.
However, technology had improved since then.

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It wasn't reported why these new searches
had come up. However, something else

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took place in April that perhaps gave
a reason for this. It was announced

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that a forty seven year old man
had been arrested in connection with Nichola's disappearance.

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It was later revealed that this forty
seven year old man was in fact

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Timothy Barnes, who still lived at
the house in twenty ten. This news

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that he had been arrested for a
second time in ten years was quite a

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shock, given that he had been
released in two thousand and one without charge.

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Essex police, however, clearly had
some reason to arrest Timothy again in

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twenty ten, along with searching the
property and digging up the garage. Despite

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the arrest and the new searches,
nothing was found, and not long after

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his arrest Timothy was once again released
without charge. What had seemed like a

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possible breakthrough amounted to very little Once
again. This news must have been disheartening

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for her family and again brought them
back to square one on the investigation.

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Since twenty ten, little has been
published about Nicola's disappearance and there haven't been

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many updates to her case made in
the public. The most recent news that

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I can find about her case was
a four line write up in a local

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newspaper article along with twenty other unsolved
crimes in Essex. This is the sad

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reality of unsolved cases that they do
tend to drop out of the press and

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then as a result, information is
not passed on as regularly to police.

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Detective Inspector Cliff Haynes from Essex Police
stated their dedication to finding Nicola and what

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happened to her, saying we are
determined to trace this woman, but I

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have grave concern for her because there
have been no sightings for some time.

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The whole business is a mystery,
especially she's not even been in touch with

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her children. Nicola's disappearance is indeed
shrouded in a lot of mystery. What

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happened to her after she left Loretta's
house after her night out. Did she

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encounter someone along her route that wanted
to do her harm, or did she

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make it home and something happened to
her there. It's clear that Nicola didn't

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take enough with her for her to
be away for a long time, and

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that being out of contact with her
friends and family was not normal for her,

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so this in itself implies that whatever
happened that night, Nicola hadn't planned

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for it. This also suggests that
she may not have gone voluntarily. Police

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haven't been forthcoming with the evidence or
information that they have, but the fact

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that they've been back to search the
home invoicing gardens does imply that they are

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perhaps looking closer to home for the
answers. Nicola's disappearance has been hard on

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her entire family, and particularly her
two children that were left behind in the

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aftermath of it. They deserve answers
and some closure too. They were only

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young when their mum disappeared and this
must have had a huge effect on their

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lives. In twenty ten, Nicola's
mum, Janet, spoke to the press

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about her daughter's disappearance and said,
it's disappointing that we still haven't got an

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answer about what happened or any closure, and please the police did what they

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did, at least they were trying
to help. I was holding out hope

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we might get some sort of answer
after all this time. This sadly hasn't

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been the case. Over twelve years
later and her family still wait for answers

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as to what happened to Nicola.
It seems to me to be one of

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those cases where unless someone comes forward
or police find new evidence, it will

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remain a mystery. Nicola needs to
be found and her story told. So

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if you know anything about the disappearance
of Nicola Ray in May two thousand,

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then please contact Essex Police on one
oh one or through their website. I

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will leave the link in the show
notes. Thank you for listening to today's

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episod. If you'd like to support
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my other podcast, ten Minute True
Crime, which tells infamous crimes in a

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short form. By its size ten
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dislike the facts. Find that wherever
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As always, I'm Caprice and this
has been unseen