Friend of Gaynor Lord says she received ‘pocket dial’ from missing mum just minutes after she was last seen on CCTV

14 December 2023, 18:48

A friend of Gaynor Lord has said she received two calls from the missing mum on the day of her disappearance - one just minutes after she was last seen on CCTV.

The 55-year-old mother disappeared on Friday after leaving her job at a Norwich gin outlet early at 2:45pm.

Her belongings were found across Wensum Park as police comb the area and divers search through the river there.

Ms Lord’s friend Julie Butcher has said she received two phone calls from the missing mother - one just minutes after she was last caught on CCTV.

She received the first call at 2:15pm, half an hour before Ms Lord left her place of work.

Ms Lord phoned asking where Ms Butcher was.

“I said 'I'm at home' and I explained I was sorting out the internet and my phone rang and it was one of my clients and I had to speak to them. I said I would call her back and she said ‘yes’.”

Ms Butcher said she then tried to phone the mother-of-three back a few minutes later but wasn’t able to get through.

She said then tried again later but got through to voicemail, so followed up with. WhatsApp message to let her know she was free.

Read more: Gaynor Lord's husband 'in bits' as family perplexed at why missing mother visited Norwich Cathedral

Read more: Haunting last picture of missing mum Gaynor Lord released as police say they still don't know why she left work early

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“I think she was still at work when she called me, I don't know. But maybe that's why she couldn't answer,” she told the BBC.

She then received a second call from Ms Lord at 4:15pm, 15 minutes after she was last seen on CCTV, but said it “sounded like a pocket call” as she “could hear movement in her pocket”.

“I keep going over the conversation,” Ms Butcher said. “If I hadn't answered that call [from her client] would she have talked to me? I feel terrible. I feel so sorry for the family.

“It's not like Gaynor to do this”.

It comes after it was revealed on Thursday evening that Gaynor Lord's husband Clive is "in bits" following his wife’s disappearance.

Susan Sinclair, 66, told The Sun of her brother - Mrs Lord's husband: "Clive is in bits, obviously, but he's got his two daughters there supporting him.

"Our other brother Simon, like me, is just hoping for good news. We're all just very shocked.

"There's nothing we can do at the moment except hope that she’s found safe and well."

Ms Lord’s family are said to be confused at some of her final movements that were recorded before she vanished.

CCTV showed Ms Lord rushing through Norwich city centre on Friday afternoon, trying to cross busy roads, before she heads to the park.

She had left work at Bullards Gin, in Jarrold's department store, early.

Mrs Lord spent about half an hour in Norwich Cathedral - but that has perplexed her loved ones.

Ms Sinclair said: "I don't know why she would have been at the cathedral.

"It was sort of the right direction towards home, rather than the park which is in the opposite direction. She has a religion but she's not particularly religious.

"The worrying bit is that she's discarded some clothing, apart from her phone and the jewellery. That's a bad sign - especially in the cold and after all this time."

Mrs Lord was last seen at 4pm.

While police have no information suggesting third-party involvement in her disappearance, detectives are probing whether she met with someone at the cathedral.