Police find laptop in search for Brazilian woman, 30, missing in Essex coastal town

Vitoria Figueiredo Barreto, 30, was reported missing on March 4 after a boat she had hired was found adrift close to Bradwell-on-Sea.

Despite numerous potential sightings in the past 10 days, Essex Police have been unable to trace the psychologist.

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But the force believes they have now made a breakthrough after discovering her laptop in the same coastal town.

Barreto, from the coastal city of Fortaleza in north-eastern Brazil, last made contact with her family on March 3.

CCTV footage appears to show her jumping over a fence into a boatyard in the coastal town of Brightlingsea just after midnight on March 4.

Detectives believe the boat Barreto is thought to have taken was missing a horseshoe-shaped buoyancy aid.

Barreto arrived in the UK on February 2, having just attended a conference in Morocco.

She met her friend Liliane Silva on March 3, with whom she had been staying with while working on a research project at the University of Essex in Colchester.

Later that day, Barreto made a 30-minute bus journey to Brightlingsea, and has not been heard from or seen since.

Brazilians in Essex have been urged by her family to display the national flag, in the hope it will attract her attention and make her feel safe and welcome.

Det Supt Anna Granger said: "Every single officer, staff member and volunteer involved in this search would love nothing more than to reunite Vitoria with her mum – and we're working around the clock to do that.

"We have seen first-hand the support from the community in Brightlingsea, and further afield, which has been offered to Vitoria's loved ones.

"Equally, we know many people from the community have been involved in raising the profile of Vitoria's disappearance and that has helped to ensure a significant number of people across Essex now recognise her face and her clothes, and I would urge our whole community to please keep looking out for her and report any sightings or CCTV information to us as soon as possible."