Sallyann John

Sallyann John disappeared in 1995. In 2014 a murder investigation was launched.

She had been working as a prostitute in Swindon at the time. She was last seen at 10.45am in Aylesbury Street, Swindon on 8 September 1995. She had also been seen slightly earlier around the Broadgreen area. She generally worked as a prostitute between the bus station and train station in central Swindon.

When she was last seen she was wearing a short pink nightie style dress, a black jacket, black shoes, and black thigh-length socks.

At the time, the police ran a high-profile missing-persons inquiry in which they talked to sex-workers around Swindon, as well as her boyfriend, but the inquiry was later ended on 13 December 1995 without finding her.

The murder inquiry that was launched in 2014 was called Operation Brunel.

The police said that they thought that she had been killed shortly after she disappeared.

The police said that they initially thought that she had just left Swindon, but when her flat was searched it was found that she had not returned for a change of clothes or even taken her mobile phone with her.

She had lived in Kimmeridge Close in the Nythe area of Swindon and the police forensically searched her home in 2015 for clues.

A short while after she vanished, a postcard was received that was allegedly from her, but in 2017 it was declared to have been a fake.

The postcard read: 'Dear, thought I'd write as I've heard you've been missing me and that you were rather worried that something bad happened to me. As you can see I'm in London now but no one compares to you Big Boy. Love Sally xxxxxx'

The police said that they thought that the sender of the postcard had been trying to cover their tracks and give the impression that Sallyann John was alive and well in London.

Three men, aged between 50 and 52, were arrested on suspicion of her kidnap and murder on 17 September 2015 but they were later released.

She was also known as Sally and Sal. She was born and brought up in Swindon.

At one stage in the murder inquiry, the police linked a high-profile murderer from Swindon that had been convicted of murdering a number of young girls to the case, but later said that they had concluded that he was not involved. However, the police did excavate the garden at the convicted murderers home, as well as searching his garage in a search for clues but found nothing of interest. The convicted multiple murderer who was a taxi-driver was said to have been in the same area that Sallyann John had been at the time she disappeared.