Family mark tragic Lisa’s birthday with new appeal
By Stephen Breen
11 June 2006
The heartbroken family of murdered Bangor woman Lisa Dorrian will mark her birthday tomorrow, June 12th, by making a fresh appeal for information about her disappearance.
Lisa, who should have been celebrating turning 27, vanished after attending a party in Ballyhalbert, Co Down, last February.
Since then - and in spite of extensive land, sea and air searches - police have been unable to locate Lisa’s body or charge anyone with her murder.
Although her family marked her birthday last year by publicly releasing balloons at Bangor marina, they have decided to spend this year’s birthday at home.
But, speaking to Sunday Life last night, Lisa’s sister, Joanne, repeated her plea for anyone with information to come forward.
Said Joanne: “It is not getting any easier for my family and this is the second time we have had to spend Lisa’s birthday without her.
“Her young nephew, Ryan, and sister, Ciara, still want to know why Lisa won’t be coming home for her birthday. We don’t know what to say to them.
“We did a public thing last year for Lisa’s birthday, but we will just spend this year’s together at home and it will be a very difficult day.”
“The pain is just unbearable and if relatives of the people who did this, especially their sisters, could see the suffering we are going through, especially on a day like tomorrow, then they might help us.
“These last 16 months or so have been horrendous and it’s just hard to believe that we have been put in this situation by an act of evil.”
Joanne also said that her family is confident the people who murdered Lisa and disposed of her body will end up in court.
She said: “I have no doubt that we are going to get justice for Lisa and I’m hoping it happens this year. I can’t wait for the day when we see these people in court.
“We know the police are not giving up and are just waiting on getting that little bit of evidence.
“We intend to start another billboard campaign over the coming months and we just want these people to know we are not going to go away.
“We know it will be very hard now to get Lisa’s body back because it was dumped at sea - that’s why it’s making us even more determined to get justice.”
