Found Deceased UK - Gaynor Lord was last seen in Norwich city centre on London Street heading towards Norwich Cathedral, 2:35 pm, 8 December 2023

[brodyxlove]

Well, the specialist divers have already been in the water. Has the sluice been searched?

I have no idea if the sluice has been searched, but it would be shocking if it hadn't. It gets checked frequently by The Environmental Agency even when there isn't a high-profile missing person less than a mile away. I've attached a photo of it.

 

[Yellowbelly]

Im not sure if there are street cameras, but the park has two entrances, one entrance is opposite a newsagents corner shop type place, and the river is pretty shallow there but either side of the park the river goes into wooded areas. Unfortunatley a lot of the time when people fall in the Wensum they end up around whitlingham or trowse as it’s a tidal river that’s fed by the sea and has been very high recently.

Looking on Google Maps, there seems to be some sort of sluice/pumping station downstream from Wensum Park at New Mills Yard. Would this prevent anything in the water from travelling any further down river?

 

[msmacabre]

First time posting so I hope I’m doing it right, and no malice intended, I think either:

A) She’s faking her own death is my first thought. Wanting to make it appear as though she went to church before disappearing to pray for forgiveness, leaving plenty of clues; clothes and rings by the river to be ‘identified’. Coat left in the water etc. You don’t hear of these types of things often with people just disappearing near water with stuff left and it’s so close in time to the Nicola Bulley case, you wonder if it’s sparked an idea.

B) All of the above but she has sadly taken her own life and been in sudden distress to do it and it’s all been a bit rushed as it was unplanned.

C) Something’s gone wrong or she’s had bad news, met someone at the cathedral (or again, gone to pray) and then decided to either take her life or run away.

D) An accident, with a mixture of the things above.

But to be honest, the husband not wanting to comment is incredibly off and I think the biggest indicator all isn’t as it seems…

 

[PandaMarch]

There may well be spots inside and outside the cathedral, especially inside, that are ideal for bad actors' purposes, e.g. for the handover of an earpiece, to be followed by instructions a bit later "go here, now go here, drop your [presumed smart] rings, go here, drop your phone, go here, stop by the tree, put your hands on the ground, look through your legs" [ready for further instructions given verbally by a passing walker, for added security]...

Somewhat Walter Mitty, some would say, but such a storyline is consistent with several reported features of the case.

what are 'bad actors' and what do you mean earpiece etc?

 

[PandaMarch]

First time posting so I hope I’m doing it right, and no malice intended, I think either:

A) She’s faking her own death is my first thought. Wanting to make it appear as though she went to church before disappearing to pray for forgiveness, leaving plenty of clues; clothes and rings by the river to be ‘identified’. Coat left in the water etc. You don’t hear of these types of things often with people just disappearing near water with stuff left and it’s so close in time to the Nicola Bulley case, you wonder if it’s sparked an idea.

B) All of the above but she has sadly taken her own life and been in sudden distress to do it and it’s all been a bit rushed as it was unplanned.

C) Something’s gone wrong or she’s had bad news, met someone at the cathedral (or again, gone to pray) and then decided to either take her life or run away.

D) An accident, with a mixture of the things above.

But to be honest, the husband not wanting to comment is incredibly off and I think the biggest indicator all isn’t as it seems…

I think it's totally understandable for her husband not to comment, this is to the press, who behave appallingly. Remember all the speculation on social media etc around NB's partner after he spoke to the press.

 

[WiseOwl]

I have no idea if the sluice has been searched, but it would be shocking if it hadn't. It gets checked frequently by The Environmental Agency even when there isn't a high-profile missing person less than a mile away. I've attached a photo of it.

View attachment 467887

If Gaynor sadly did end up in the river, would she be at the sluice by now (6 days later) or is it possible she might have floated on further downstream?

 

[masquerading]

Just read up on this case. The CCTV is really odd to me. Gaynor seems to be literally running after leaving work, and that second car comes incredibly close to hitting her, and she does not seem fazed by that at all. Maybe that’s her nature, some people I guess don’t react hugely to things like that, but wow. After she leaves the cathedral, she seems a bit calmer. Still walking quite fast, but that could reasonably be a normal, but brisk, walking pace IMO.

At 55, it’s possible that Gaynor was transitioning into menopause. From the National Institute of Mental Health (link): “… the rate of major depressive disorder and clinically meaningful elevations in depressive symptoms increases two to three-fold during MT [menopause transition]. The MT also represents a vulnerable life phase where there is a substantial increase in the cases of first-onset schizophrenia, which is not observed in men of similar ages.” Mood and Psychosis Symptoms During the Menopause Transition

Just a thought on why her movements seem so erratic. She could be going through a mental health crisis. Sometimes the prodrome symptoms of psychosis (like depression, mood swings, sleep problems) are either mild enough to attribute to other things or don’t happen at all (something like 70% of people have a prodromal phase). Full-blown psychosis can seem like it comes out of nowhere. And psychosis can come with religious delusions, potentially explaining her need to get to the cathedral quickly. JMO!

 

[Moonstrawbs]

I think it's totally understandable for her husband not to comment, this is to the press, who behave appallingly. Remember all the speculation on social media etc around NB's partner after he spoke to the press.

Exactly plus the police could possibly be advising that he doesn't make comment. IMO.

 

[Lucy6226]

There may well be spots inside and outside the cathedral, especially inside, that are ideal for bad actors' purposes, e.g. for the handover of an earpiece, to be followed by instructions a bit later "go here, now go here, drop your [presumed smart] rings, go here, drop your phone, go here, stop by the tree, put your hands on the ground, look through your legs" [ready for further instructions given verbally by a passing walker, for added security]...

Somewhat Walter Mitty, some would say, but such a storyline is consistent with several reported features of the case.

I'm slightly confused by this, could you explain further in what scenario this would be happening, earpieces and following instructions??

 

[brodyxlove]

If Gaynor sadly did end up in the river, would she be at the sluice by now (6 days later) or is it possible she might have floated on further downstream?

I don’t think it would be impossible for her to go through the sluice gates – especially with the water levels being high as they work on pressure differential – but they often accumulate debris. I’m almost certain they have a boom going across the river about 200m before the sluice as well, but of course, that would only catch debris that was floating.

 

[StillDiggin]

Missing mum Gaynor Lord ‘performed yoga pose in park’ moments before she disappeared, eyewitnesses say

Missing Gaynor Lord performed a yoga pose in a park shortly before she vanished, according to a witness.

www.lbc.co.uk

 

[WiseOwl]

I don’t think it would be impossible for her to go through the sluice gates – especially with the water levels being high as they work on pressure differential – but they often accumulate debris. I’m sure they would have checked.

Thanks for your reply.

As you are a local, do you know exactly when they first started searching the river? Are they likely to have gone as far as the sluice by now?

TIA

 

[Sarahlou]

Regarding the comments about if she was suicidal she could have jumped in front of a car...there's a good chance that wouldn't work and also people would try to help her.
She was obviously in a rush to get to a certain destination.

 

[Officer Dibble]

Back to basics - all this talk of her taking her rings off. Do we know when she took them off? Was it when she got to the park? I think it could make some difference to our theories if we knew when she took them off.

No, the Police have kept the finer details quiet.

Edited to add Guardian news item posted yesterday evening and a reminder it mentions her coat having been found in the river. Gaynor Lord search: police release footage of last sightings in Norwich

 

[Officer Dibble]

Norwich Evening News stated on 11th December "Divers from elsewhere in the country could be brought in" Specialist search teams could join hunt for missing Norwich woman

 

[Officer Dibble]

ITV footage of divers searching the river from 13th December https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/202...rk-where-missing-mum-may-have-gone-into-water

 

[Officer Dibble]

Just caught up with this thread after seeing the headline on BBC News.

It's perplexing this one and the following details make it difficult to really settle on a theory. I hope this is due to the police withholding information for whatever reasons and that's why it doesn't really make sense at the moment.

* Leaving work 1hr 15mins early - this draws attention from other staff and management, imo suicide unlikely
* Rushing, near collision with a car - her mind definitely on where she needs to be. Meeting someone? Emergency phone call?
* Clothing, coat and jewellery left in different spots - leans more towards suicide, but then I'd question if 4pm would be the best time, surely early morning or late evening would reduce the risk of being seen/saved.
* Unaccounted time in cathedral - I believe police know what's occured here, as others have suggested there would be CCTV. Did she go to pray before jumping in the river? Did she meet someone there? She is still walking with purpose and focus leaving the cathedral in my opinion.

* Yoga - I'm with others with this, I suspect she was seen sat on the grass meditating/deep in thought, rather than doing downward dog. It's a strange time of day and year to be doing yoga in a park...in your work clothes.

* Do we know for sure that she didn't leave the park? And that the items left are red herrings, placed either by herself or by unknown other?

The build up to Christmas is a rubbish time for some people and can be very stressful. Some people can't face another new year

I highly suspect she is in the river either suicide or accidental. However it would not surprise to find out the police have a person of interest at a further press release.

BBM: Re Yoga the ground would be very wet so it was the grass she was seen doing this on she might have laid her coat down to do the Yoga. What if she did the Yoga on the waters edge? Slipped and fell? The witness holds a lot of keys we don't know about the so called Yoga. Where exactly, how exactly ? JMO

 

[JennieM]

Gaynor Lord eyewitness who saw missing mother take off her coat before performing yoga pose in park moments before she disappeared says she 'seemed calm' but her behaviour was 'a bit off' - as search enters sixth day
​

A witness who allegedly saw missing Gaynor Lord shortly before she vanished has revealed she saw her put her coat on the ground of a park and perform a yoga pose.

Rosie Richards said she saw a woman fitting Mrs Lord's description at Wensum Park in Norwich last Friday afternoon and described her as appearing 'quite calm'.

But the witness, who lives nearby, claimed something 'just seemed a bit off' because it was getting dark at the time around 4pm. Mrs Lord's personal effects were later found at the park and her coat was in the River Wensum, which runs through it.

Ms Richards told ITV's Good Morning Britain: 'To me she seemed quite calm. She was sort of putting her coat down on the floor and sort of performing a yoga pose. It just seemed a bit off at this time because obviously it was starting to get dark.'

[…]

Another witness saw a woman who could have been twice-married Mrs Lord in the park at around 4pm. They said she 'removed her coat and performed a yoga pose'.

[…]

Gaynor Lord eyewitness says missing mother was behaving unusually

Gaynor Lord, 55, was last seen on Friday afternoon after she left work early from Norwich city centre. The Missing mother-of-three's personal effects were later found at Wensum Park.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[brodyxlove]

Thanks for your reply.

As you are a local, do you know exactly when they first started searching the river? Are they likely to have gone as far as the sluice by now?

TIA

As mentioned above, I believe today will be the second day of divers in the water, but before this there were boat searches from above.

I don’t want to be a gawker, but I do have today off to do some Christmas shopping and had intended to pop into the TK Maxx near the sluice, so I may subtly see where the search extends to. Hoping she is found.

 

[WiseOwl]

As mentioned above, I believe today will be the second day of divers in the water, but before this there were boat searches from above.

I don’t want to be a gawker, but I do have today off to do some Christmas shopping and had intended to pop into the TK Maxx near the sluice, so I may subtly see where the search extends to. Hoping she is found.

Thanks again.

So if the divers only started searching the water yesterday, i think it's unlikely that they have searched the sluice yet.

My guess is if Gaynor did enter the river that she is at, or maybe past, the sluice by now.