Denise Jarvis: Mystery of woman missing for more than a year as family vow to 'never give up'

  • Watch Richard Payne's report here.

The mother of a woman who has been missing for more than a year says she now fears the worst but will never give up on finding her daughter.Denise Jarvis has not been seen or heard from since vanishing from a park in South Gloucestershire in August 2022. Police say her case remains active but her whereabouts are a mystery.

After enduring another Christmas without her, mother Bernadette Lake can only hope the new year finally brings a breakthrough.Her mother said: "Hopefully she's alright, but if she's not going to get in touch, you just lose hope, don't you? You think 'Oh God, what's happened?"The last known sighting of Denise Jarvis was in Southey Park, not far from her parents' Kingswood home where she had been living for several months. She left with five bags of belongings. Only two of them have ever been recovered.

Bernadette said: "It scares you, doesn't it? I'd rather know if they (the police) think anything serious has happened to her. I know they have said 'be prepared' but it's a long time to be prepared."

Bernadette Lake says her daughter was suffering poor mental health when she left home Credit: ITV News

Denise was 44 when she left on 3 August 2022. CCTV pictures, recorded on the day before she went missing, shows the grey sleeveless coat Denise was wearing when she was last seen in the park.Her mother says the mental health of her daughter, who has a child of her own, deteriorated after a marriage breakdown. She'd been sectioned the year before and her parents wanted her to seek further treatment.She said: "All we wanted was help for her. And there wasn't any help out there and the only way she could get help was to say 'I'm ill'."

Some of Denise Jarvis's belongings were found in Southey Park, close to her parents' Kingswood home Credit: ITV News

After gaining a maths degree at the University of the West of England, the eldest of three siblings built a successful career. She had a large and loving family around her but an argument the night she vanished without a phone still sits heavy with those she left behind."I know we blame ourselves because it was our fault we let her go, but we only thought she'd be there (in the park) overnight, but she was gone when I went down there at 6 o'clock in the morning."

Appeals in the local area are still made nearly a year and a half on.Bernadette said: "I won't give up on Denise. How can you give up on her? It's been a year of hell really trying to find Denise but to no avail."