Missing prostitute Amanda Duncan: Clients may have information

Police have issued a fresh appeal for information about the disappearance of a Suffolk woman last seen 20 years ago.

Amanda Duncan, 26, was reported missing on 3 July 1993 after travelling to Ipswich to work as a prostitute.

Suffolk Police have never been able to trace the drivers of two Ford cars seen in the town's red-light district on the night she disappeared.

Officers hope some of Miss Duncan's clients may now feel able to come forward with information.

But they said there was no evidence to link serial killer Steve Wright, jailed for the murder of five women in Ipswich in 2006, with Miss Duncan's disappearance.

Spoke to driver

Miss Duncan, of Balliol Close, Woodbridge, left her older son Jamie, three, with her parents at about midday on Friday, 2 July 1993 and her younger son Damien, nine months, with a babysitter.

She then headed for the Portman Road area of Ipswich.

Police said she was believed to have visited an address in London Road, Ipswich, at about 23:10 BST, intending to buy drugs before starting work.

Miss Duncan's son Damien was found alone at her house in Woodbridge

She agreed to return and finalise the purchase after finishing work and was then dropped off by car in Portman Road at 23:30.

She was seen speaking to the driver of a dark Ford Sierra, possibly green or blue, at about midnight in Portman's Walk.

Alone in house

Police also tried to trace a red Ford Orion, seen there at 23:50.

It had a noisy exhaust or engine and was driven by a white man aged between 25 and 30.

Miss Duncan was reported missing the following day, after her sister visited her home and found Damien alone in the house,

She was described as white, 5ft 7ins tall, of medium build, with fair, shoulder-length hair.

Miss Duncan had a heart-shaped tattoo on her upper left arm and was wearing a black leather bomber jacket, a pink sleeveless knee-length dress, and a gold cross and chain.

At the height of the investigation, a team of 20 officers were working on the case.

'Utmost confidence'

They took 243 witness statements, conducted house-to-house inquiries, searching the River Gipping and other areas.

Det Ch Insp Tracey Little, of the joint Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigation Team, said: "There may be people out there who, for whatever reason, felt reluctant to come forward with information 20 years ago.

"They may have been a client of Amanda's who had seen her on Friday 2 July but for personal reasons didn't feel comfortable contacting us.

"We outlined at the time that any information we received would be treated in the utmost confidence and that still stands."

She said it was particularly distressing for Miss Duncan's family that they had never found out what happened to her.

"Over the years there has been much speculation about what has happened to Amanda and we hope by carrying out this review we will be able to find out the facts," she added.