Małgorzata Wnuczek: Police continue river search for woman who disappeared in Leicester 17 years ago

Specialist diving teams are continuing to search the River Soar as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Małgorzata Wnuczek.

The Polish national, who was living in Leicester, vanished 17 years ago on 31 May 2006.

She was last seen after catching a bus from her work at Peter Jackson Logistics in Sunningdale Road into Leicester city centre.

Teams with sonar equipment searched the stretch of water between bridges in Mill Lane and Upperton Road in June - and will continue to search this week on Monday 16 October and Wednesday 18 October to locate "any remaining unidentified objects within the riverbed."

A 39-year-old man was arrested in the Greater Manchester area on 6 June in connection with the investigation, and remains on police bail.

Gosia, as she was known by her family, was regularly in touch with her parents Ryszard and Bozena Smolka, who live in Poland.

The last contact with them was a text message sent on 29 May 2006.

Detectives believe there may be people within Leicester’s Polish community who know what happened to her.

Detective Chief Inspector Jenni Greenway said: "During the previous search of the river, some items were found within the riverbed that we were unable to identify.

"This next phase of the investigation is to establish what they are and whether they are anything that could provide us with information as to what happened to Malgorzata.

"I would still ask that anyone who is able to help with our enquiries, but has not yet contacted police, to do so. It’s never to late to come forward."

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