IT’S been seven years since Georgina Gharsallah suddenly vanished without a trace from a town centre in Sussex.
The 30-year-old had popped into Worthing from her mum’s house to get her phone fixed on March 7, 2018 – and was caught on CCTV entering a shop.
That was the last time Georgina was seen alive – and now a new documentary investigating the case suggests her mysterious disappearance could be linked to a gang of Albanian drug dealers.
, a loving mum to two children, was working at an Albanian-owned Kebab shop called Albion Kebab Shop – which at the time was linked to an into an Albanian gang.
A policeman who infiltrated the group told In the Footsteps of Killers presenters Emilia Fox and Professor David Wilson that violent gangs had a foothold in the city – and it “wouldn’t surprise him”; if Georgina had got mixed up in it.
The officer Andy – not his real name – said: “My job for over 15 years was to investigate organised . Gangs were starting to take a much stronger foothold in the city.
“This particular Albanian gang was the Dema family. ‘Don’t mess with them’ – that was the reputation. There would be some serious violence. They would do that in a way that wouldn’t draw attention to them.
“It was a focal point for the start of our operation. We would be looking at the front of Albion Kebabs, to understand the people who were working there, who controlled it, to build a picture.”;
Asked if he thought Georgina had fallen foul of the gang that owned the shop where she worked, and been disposed of, Andy said: “It wouldn’t surprise me at all.
“I know the levels of work that have gone into that case. And my gut feeling is she’s not coming back. I don’t think we’re going to find any answers.”;
Since Georgina went missing her bank cards have never been used, her prescriptions never collected and friends and family haven’t heard from her either.
In August 2019 the case was reclassified as a murder case from a , as there were no signs she was still alive.
Police still haven’t found a body, or even so much as a hair sample.
Georgina’s devastated mum Andrea doesn’t believe there are sufficient grounds to declare her daughter dead.
She said: “We were like, ‘Well how [can they say she’s dead]? You haven’t got any evidence.’ They just say it’s because of the lack of proof of life, but for me that’s not enough.”;
Georgina’s family had assumed she was staying with friends or her partner when she didn’t return that day in March 2018.
My gut feeling is she’s not coming back. I don’t think we’re going to find any answers
Police officer
When Georgina’s worried boyfriend Christian Slater rang Andrea asking of her whereabouts, the family raised the alarm.
But Andrea and Georgina’s family were confident she would return.
“We still at Christmas [2018] laid the table for her,”; said. “[I] told everyone to get presents for her, because she comes back [sic].
“I used to think I don’t want the bad answers, and go all my life looking, and have that hope. But I’m at that stage now that I want the answers, even if they’re bad.”;
Dangerous crowd
Georgina had become involved with unsavoury characters in the town, according to people who knew her.
She was also alleged to have been hiding in her flat for convicted drug dealer Aldo Aringa, who was in at the time of her disappearance.
Shop owner Mick Symes claims he saw her hanging around with Albanian drug dealers, and told the documentary: “The common denominator of people I’ve seen Georgina walking round the town with or talking with or I know, know her, are involved in class A drugs.
“I’m not saying that Georgina was. But certainly the people she went around with were involved in the supply of drugs, and some quite serious and unpleasant situations.
“I believe [her disappearance] is related to the drug supply in Worthing and Brighton. And the people who are involved at the higher end.”;
Georgina’s boyfriend Christian also told how she appeared to be struggling and had turned to binge-drinking in an attempt to cope.
He claimed her erratic behaviour had led to their relationship starting to break down.
The common denominator of people I’ve seen Georgina walking round the town with or talking with or I know, know her, are involved in class A drugs
Shop owner Mick Symes
So when she didn’t answer his calls and texts for a few days, he’d assumed she was ignoring him after a disagreement.
“It was a really good relationship in the beginning – it was after Christmas time that everything just went a bit crazy,”; he said.
“She started drinking more, arguments started to occur. When she got upset, she got a bit fiery. I was the same. We were two peas in a pod in that way.”;
Christian said Georgina would walk out during arguments and visit her “Albanian friends”;.
“Everyone knew Georgina, she knew a lot of people in Brighton,”; he said.
“When we used to have an argument, she’d go down and see her Albanian friends.
“She’d stay with her Albanian friends at the Royal Albion Hotel, that was where she’d go down and see them.
“The kebab shop she used to work in was the Albion Kebab shop.”;
‘Wall of silence’
It wasn’t just family and police who reached a dead end trying to find out what happened to Georgina.
Even local journalists looking into her disappearance were stonewalled.
Steve, a freelance journalist, said: “What we ran into very quickly was almost a wall of silence at the time.
“A lot of it was fear – a lot of her friends were too scared to come forward.
“There was talk that Georgina had become involved with people who may have been dangerous.”;
He added: “We found at times Georgina was a troubled soul, but what was clear was that she had a lot of family support around her.”;
Former police officer Andy reckons the silence is for a reason – because the gangs don’t want to be caught.
He told the documentary: “There would be some serious violence [if you crossed the Albanian gang]. They would do that in a way that doesn’t draw attention to them.
“Many years ago there was a shooting in Hove not far from where we are sat. That brought a lot of heat on the Albanian community at that time.
“I think from that moment on, they realised that by doing that, you’re bringing yourself into that headlights [so they’re more discreet].”;
Presenter Professor Wilson said: “It’s almost like she’s swallowed up by the darkness... of organised crime.”;
In the Footsteps of Killers airs tonight at 10pm on Channel 4.
