georgina | Up To Date

She was by no means a saint, but she was still a mother, a sister, and a daughter who has, for the past seven years, been denied justice. The disappearance of Georgina Gharsallah, a missing mum of two, leaves more questions than answers: Where did she go? Did she disappear willingly?

On that typical Wednesday—the 7th of March 2018—Georgina left her home in Worthing, where she lived with her mother, Andrea, with two intended tasks: to buy a new SIM card and to visit the job centre.

According to Andrea, Georgina’s phone battery had recently broken and would only work while charging. As a result, she had been using an old flip phone given to her by her mum. However, this phone did not fit her SIM card, so she needed to buy a new one that would.

On that dreaded day, she was seen walking toward a local store named Clifton Food and Wine—a shop less than ten minutes away and just outside Worthing town centre. It was this store where she would be seen for the last time, caught on CCTV just before 11 a.m.

Now, in 2025, there is no evidence of her fate, and instead, only theories and speculation. But, her mother and sisters know one thing for sure, she did not willingly disappear.

“Georgina is — was — of those people — she couldn’t keep a secret.

“I think wherever she went that day or whatever happened, it was random. I don’t think she knew she was going to go somewhere.”

Andy Wolstenholme, Detective Superintendent for Sussex Police, says that she was initially recorded as a medium-risk missing person, but now, he too believes that she is the victim of homicide.

Andrea and her other daughters regularly receive text messages speculating about what happened to Georgina, as well as more sinister claims and even ransom requests. In one message, somebody claimed to have murdered her after she developed a £10,000 drug debt; another claimed she was murdered for no reason, and then burned and disposed of in the woods.

Despite the leading theory in Georgina’s hometown of Worthing, Georgina was not known to be a substance user or to have held any similar debts.

On one occasion, for months on end, a member of the public harassed both Sussex Police and Andrea herself, claiming that Georgina had run away to Birmingham, where she was now working as a beautician. When authorities disputed her claims, she accused Andrea and her other daughters of not caring about finding Georgina — an accusation that broke the mother’s heart.

Georgina’s two sons, who were children at the time of the disappearance, are now teenagers living with their grandmother. Andrea says the boys suffer in different ways each day, but they struggle to discuss their grief.

“One time, the younger one had come back, I think about two years ago, and a lady had asked me for posters and she had put them all around [Worthing.]

"She never really said where she was going to put them, but she put them all around the road by the school and coming along here.

“When he came back, he had one in his hand and it was all crumbled. He was crying, and he was so — like sobbing, and he must have been about 13 then, and he just said ‘people are walking over my mummy’ and he thought they were doing it on purpose.”

During the period when Georgina went missing, demolition work was being done on a site known as ‘Teville Gate’ — a small area of land which, underground, had several neglected pipe systems. After seeing a message on a local forum, Andrea believed that “this was it” and that it was the site where Georgina must certainly be. However, police disagreed. Wolstenholme, responding to local criticism, said the site had been checked for any possible remains and had remained monitored since, but Andrea believes “it wasn’t really a search. He sort of lifted a drain up and put a camera down.” She did not feel reassured.

Although being herself born in Brighton, she lived much of her adolescence in her father’s birth country of Libya and is described as having typical Arabic features.

“We absolutely understand the frustration and upset that this situation has brought to Georgina’s family.” Wolstenholme said. “We all share the same aim, and a vested interest in solving this case and getting answers for the family.”

A year after the disappearance, Andrea learned that CCTV footage which may give more indication to her daughter’s whereabouts had become lost - all except a possible sighting of Georgina in Worthing town centre. In the footage, a woman baring a resemblance to the missing mother is seen walking with another woman. However, despite Andrea’s insistence that the individual captured is in fact her daughter, Sussex Police have raised doubts.

“I know my daughter, and that is her.” Andrea told me.

“At the time, you’re putting your daughter into their hands, and you think they’re going to look after [her] and find the answers. I’m her mum. I’m desperate to find [those] answers.”

Andrea does not know how to address her grief. She wants answers, but equally she knows what that will be:

“The horrible and final thing. As long as I [don’t] know, there is hope. I hate that word ‘closure’ because it’s sort of the final thing.

“I don’t want to go on like this forever.” She said. “I feel guilty because we’re here - we are here, and she’s not, and we don’t know where she is or what happened to her.

“You do get to that point where you just think, ‘I want to know.’

“I just want to know whether it’s good or not, I think you do.”

The only thing which brings Andrea peace is knowing that her daughter would be happy and relieved to know that her two sons are safe with her, and not in care.

“I think if she knew wherever she was that the boys were here, even if she’s not here, if she knew, she’d be happy to know they were here. I think that's the only thing, not the good thing, out of it.”

If you know anything about the disappearance of Georgina Gharsallah, please call 101 quoting the phrase “Operation Pavo.”