Police search Leicester river in connection with missing woman who vanished 17 years ago as man, 39, arrested
6 June 2023, 13:02
Police are searching a river as part of an investigation into the disappearance of woman in 2006.
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Malgorzata Wnuczek vanished after she was last seen taking a bus from work in Leicester 17 years ago.
Specialist teams have now begun searching the River Soar, around the Mill Lane bridge, about a 15 minute drive from Sunningdale Road where she worked at Peter Jackson Logistics.
Ms Wnuczek, known to relatives as Gosia, last spoke to her loved ones through text on May 29 2006 and has not been heard from since.
Detectives believe people in the Polish community may know what happened to her and are working with their counterparts in Poland.
A 39-year-old man has been arrested in the Greater Manchester area on suspicion of assisting an offender and perverting the course of justice.
Leicestershire Police's Detective Inspector Jenni Higgs said: "Malgorzata was 27 when she was last seen. Two days ago it was her 44th birthday.
"Following information provided to us by our Polish colleagues, we are carrying out a search of the River Soar in the hope we might find something that can help us to establish Malgorzata's whereabouts.
"Since the investigation began, more than 2,000 potential witnesses have raised more than 2,500 lines of inquiry, with more than 100 statements taken. But we still do not know where Malgorzata is or what might have happened to her.
"However, I firmly believe there are people out there who do. For more than 17 years, her family have lived their lives in darkness and we owe it to them to answer the questions they have."
"I'm making a direct appeal to the people of Leicester – and in particular our Polish community – to come forward if they have any information that could help.
"You might think what you know is insignificant, but it might just be something that leads us to Malgorzata."
Anyone with information can contact 101 or use the force's website using incident number 362 of 2 June.
