Missing People: How lockdown has intensified the heartache for family members

• Video report by Rob Smith

For the families of people who have been missing for years, the lockdown has been difficult as it has hampered their efforts to look for their loved ones.

Families also fear that Covid-19 may have denied them any chance for a reunion and said that isolation have brought memories of those who are missing to the forefront of their minds.

Marcus Rigby from Preston vanished in 1995, his mother, Mary, said that searching for him is crucial to the family.

She added: "I can't just at the drop of a hat go somewhere that there may have been a potential sighting of him, I'm here and that's it.

"There's no way of following anything up."

Kevin Fasting disappeared from his home in Liverpool in 2003, his sister Tracie said that her thoughts have turned to him more than ever whilst she has been stuck at home.

"My thoughts have turned to him an awful lot more," she said.

"Just wondering where he is, the circumstances around him going missing - could we have done more at the time.

"We all miss him, and we all want him home; he is a missing part of the jigsaw."

A charity helping to find missing people during the pandemic said that they have helped 800 people for each month of the lockdown.

Sophie Lapham from the charity said that she hopes the uncertainty caused by the last year will generate more empathy to people who have missing family members.