Cold case appeal to find teenage girl who disappeared nearly 50 years ago as sister makes emotional plea
As police reopened the cold case, her sister said: “Our family simply wants the truth and the opportunity to finally understand what happened"
The sister of a missing schoolgirl has made an emotional appeal for information that could help police find her – almost 50 years after she disappeared.
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Suzanne Lawrence, then aged 14, was reported missing in the summer of 1979.
Together with her then 13-year-old sister, Michelle, she left home in Harold Hill, east London - telling their mother they would be staying with friends in Dagenham.
Michelle returned home five days later, on 31 July, after the pair had an argument.
She told police they had met three boys, aged around 14 to 17, at a fair in Highbury Fields, north London.
Suzanne never returned home.
The boys took them to a nearby squat, but Michelle was unable to locate the address when she accompanied officers on a visit to the area.
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Michelle Hooper, now 60, told how even after so many decades having passed she thinks about her sister Suzanne every single day.
Speaking directly to her sister, if she is still alive, stressed that she has not been “forgotten”.
As police reopened the cold case, her sister added: “Our family simply wants the truth and the opportunity to finally understand what happened."
Police thought at the time that Suzanne, who would now be 61, may have joined a travelling fair.
But enquiries by officers failed to find her.
The Met Police's East Area Missing Persons Unit, which has reviewed the case, has now launched a fresh attempt to try to establish what happened to Suzanne.
She said: “If my sister is alive, I want her to know that she has never been forgotten.
“If anyone knows what happened to her, I ask them to do the right thing and speak to the police.
“Our family simply wants the truth and the opportunity to finally understand what happened."
Ms Hooper explained what had happened before Suzanne went missing.
"I was the last member of the family to be with my sister before she disappeared,” she said.
"We left home together and for a period we were both trying to survive away from home.
“Eventually I returned, but Suzanne did not.”
She added: "Many years have passed, but not a day goes by without wondering what happened to her.
“Our mother is now elderly and, like me, has lived for decades without knowing what became of her daughter.
“No family should have to endure such uncertainty for so long.
"If anyone remembers seeing us, helping us, giving us somewhere to stay, or speaking to my sister during those days in the summer of 1979, please come forward.