Missing mother's friend missed call minutes after last CCTV sighting

A friend of missing mother Gaynor Lord says she missed a call minutes after she was last seen in CCTV footage.

Julie Butcher told Sky News she received two phone calls from the 55-year-old on the day she went missing in Norfolk.

The calls were timed at around 2.37pm – a few minutes before she left work early – and then again at 4.15pm on Friday 8 December, after the last CCTV sighting of her.

“I answered the call and said ‘who is it?’ and she said ‘it’s Gaynor’,” Ms Butcher said of the first call.

“Then my phone rang and it was one of my clients, so I said to Gaynor can I call you back and she said ‘yes’.

“I rang her back and then she didn’t answer, so I called her again and left a message, and then I messaged her on WhatsApp.”

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Ms Butcher described the second call from Ms Lord as a “pocket call”.

“It sounded like she was walking along,” she said.

This call came 14 minutes after she was last sighted on CCTV – at 4.01pm on Norwich’s St Augustines Street – which police confirmed when they released new footage today.

The footage shows Mrs Lord walking up the street wearing glasses and a long coat as she walks along the road – which is busy with passing traffic.

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‘It is quite distressing’

When asked about her reaction to Mrs Lord’s disappearance, Ms Butcher said: “It’s not like Gaynor really.

“I can’t explain it, it is quite distressing.

“I wish I hadn’t of taken that other call. Then I might have found out the reason why she was calling me.”

Ms Butcher added that she just wants Mrs Lord to be found.

The pair first met at a local tennis club, where they would play matches against one another. She said the last game they had was back in July.

When asked to describe Mrs Lord, Ms Butcher said: “She was quite feisty sometimes, in a funny way, we were both from Lancashire so we had that in common.

“During lockdown we would meet in the city and we would go for a walk with our dogs.

“I can’t imagine why she would do (this).”

Norfolk Police have given the following timeline of Mrs Lord’s movements:

2.44pm: Mrs Lord, who is described as white, 5ft 6in tall, and has a blonde shoulder-length bob, is working at the Bullards Gin counter in the basement at Jarrolds department store – she is clearly visible in a CCTV image

2.45 – 2.46pm: She leaves via the loading bay on Bedford Street

2.47pm: Mrs Lord walks onto London Street past the Cosy Club

2.48pm: She makes her way to Queens Street, without waiting for a red light and narrowly misses moving traffic before walking towards the cathedral

3.22pm: CCTV shows her in The Close at the cathedral entrance – shortly before exiting through the archway, as she puts on her olive-coloured coat

3.23pm: Mrs Lord walks away from the cathedral on Queens Street. CCTV shows a clear image of the coat she was wearing

3.49pm: CCTV captures her walking along St George’s Street near to the Playhouse theatre

3.53pm: Walks along St Crispins Road towards Pitt Street

4.01pm: Mrs Lord walks up St Augustines Street – her final movements captured on CCTV before she went missing.

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