‘1st November 2003 started so unremarkably which i wish I had developed appreciated the normality from it. Because I would never, ever understand peace once again.’

Charlene Downes was 14 when she went missing in Blackpool’s seedy underbelly. Once a happy-go-lucky schoolgirl, she had become a truant – getting together with the wrong audience from the takeaway shops and pier. But Charlene’s mum, Karen, usually knew her common teenage little girl would get back.

Until 1 day she didn’t.

Karen continues to be looking for 15 years, campaigning for the reality of what happened to her child. To this day, Karen and her family members have no body, no convictions no answers. Arrests were produced and a murder trial took place, but no one has ever been brought to justice.

In the 15th anniversary of Charlene’s disappearance, Karen shares this heartbreaking account of every parent’s worst problem.