Tributes paid to missing woman

11:22am Monday 30th June 2008

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THEY should be helping her celebrate her 27th birthday.

Instead, the family and friends of missing Bridport woman Victoria Mann, who is feared dead, will be marking the event by attending a church service.

It is being organised to 'celebrate the love' people have for children's charity worker Victoria.

People who knew her are invited to the service which begins at 2pm tomorrow at St Mary's Church in Burton Bradstock. The service will be led by the Rector of the Bride Valley, the Rev Bob Thorn.

Victoria's mother Rosemary Bishop said today: "We would like people to join us at a service for Victoria at Burton Bradstock church and afterwards at her home in Bridport.

"We would like people to have the opportunity to contribute to a book of memories about Victoria - this could be written, drawn or photographic and should be brought to the church service.

"We have contacted as many people as we have been able to but anybody that we have been unable to contact and is a friend of Victoria's is very welcome to join us."

Mrs Bishop added: "It's eight months down the line and I thought it's about time friends and family got together.

"The last few months have been incredibly hard. I'd like people to come together to celebrate the love we have for Victoria. "She was a kind, caring and lovely person."

Victoria worked at the NCH children's charity in Dorchester and the Dorset Children's Hospice Julia's House near Poole.

Julia's House chief executive Martin Edwards described Victoria as a 'very valued' member of staff and an 'excellent carer'.

She went missing last October while enjoying a night out in Bridport and was last seen in her car outside the King's Head pub in Bradpole on the northern outskirts of the town.

Tyre marks and debris found near to Cliff Road at Burton Bradstock a few miles east of Bridport and in the sea suggested Victoria's car may have gone over a cliff.

Yet despite extensive sea searches using hi-tech equipment Victoria has not been found. Dorset Police continues to treat it as a missing person's inquiry and have not ruled out further searches in the future.

A force spokesman said: "The family of Victoria Mann and Dorset Police welcome anyone reporting finding any significant objects along the shoreline, especially parts of a Ford Ka."