THE DISAPPEARANCE of an Ealing teenager more than seven years ago is the subject of a new television documentary which aims to uncover the mystery.

Thames Valley University student Elizabeth Chau vanished on April 16, 1999, after handing in an assignment then going for a drink at the student union bar.

She was last seen by a friend walking down the Uxbridge Road towards her house in West Ealing at about 5.30pm and later spotted on CCTV cameras walking past Ealing police station just after 6pm.

Despite extensive enquiries and appeals for news of the 19-year-old, she has never been found.

Bic Chau, Liz's sister, has never given up hope of seeing her again.

She told the Ealing Times: "We want Liz to know that we love her and miss her very much.

"Whatever reasons caused her to leave us simply don't matter any more and we would welcome her back with open arms.

"Please Liz, if you see this, let us know you're ok."

Now a BBC3 series, Runaways, documents the work of the National Missing Person's Helpline (NMPH), whose continued efforts to solve the mystery have, so far, been unsuccessful.

In a hope to get fresh information concerning Liz's disappearance, a forensic artist at NMPH created an "age progression" image to suggest how Liz might look today, aged 27.

Teri Blythe, head of NMPH's ID and reconstruction department, who created the new image for the programme, said: "Producing any age progression is a combination of art and science and requires photos of the missing person and reference photos of the family.

"As Liz would have turned 27, her appearance may have altered significantly since she disappeared, but she would still retain her unique likeness."

Liz's mother, Phung, hopes this new image will bring new clues and may just be the key to finding out where she is now.

She said: "I'm still looking for Liz every day, it's really difficult for me, I miss her every day. I need to find out what happened to her."

Her disappearance has always been linked by police to that of another Ealing resident, Lola Shenkoya, a 27-year-old who vanished from Perivale on January 3, 2000.

Police believe Miss Shenkoya returned home sometime between 4pm and 4.30pm from Entertainment UK where she worked as a temp.

She was unable to get into her house in Swyncombe Avenue, Ealing, because her sister, who had the only key, was not at home.

It is believed she then caught the E2 bus from Northfield Avenue where she got off outside the Burger King on Ealing Broadway. She too has not been seen since.

On May 18 this year police searched wasteland behind a row of shops on the Uxbridge Road looking for the bodies of the two girls.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police leading the search, said: "Searches have been ongoing for the last couple of days, beginning on the 18th.

"It is part of the investigation into the missing girls Elizabeth Chau and Lola Shenkoya. There have been no significant developments in the search and nothing has been found as yet."

  • Runaways will be broadcast on Thursday, December 7 and 14 at 7.30pm.
  • Anyone who has seen Liz or Lola, or has information regarding their whereabouts or wellbeing, should contact the confidential National Missing Persons Helpline on Freefone 0500 700 700 or email sightings@missingpersons.org.