Missing Brazilian academic may have taken boat, UK police say

A psychologist from Brazil who has been missing in Essex may have taken a boat from a boatyard, police investigating her disappearance have said.

The family of Vitoria Figueiredo Barreto, 30 have said they are worried for the academic's safety, after she has not been in contact since meeting a friend on 3 March.

Barreto was reported missing the next day and Essex Police have now said a person, believed to be Barreto, was seen on CCTV jumping over a fence into a boatyard just after midnight on 3 March.

Police said they were aware of a boat having been taken from its mooring in Brightlingsea, which has since been located "adrift in the water".

Barreto, a clinical psychologist from Fortaleza, had been at a conference in Morocco before arriving in the UK on 2 February.

On 3 March Barreto had been meeting her friend Liliane Silva, with whom she had been staying while working on a research project at the University of Essex in Colchester.

Later that day, Barreto made a 30-minute bus journey to the coastal town of Brightlingsea, and her family and friends have not heard from her since.

Now, Essex Police have been investigating the possibility that Barreto took a boat from the town's boatyard.

The force has released an image of CCTV footage taken at 00:16 on 4 March, which is the last sighting of Barreto.

They said between 00:16 and 00:36 when the boat was taken from its mooring, Vitoria could no longer be seen on CCTV.

The boat was later found adrift close to Bradwell-on-Sea and returned to Brightlingsea, police said.

At this stage, Essex Police said, there is no clear and identifiable footage of the person who unmoored the boat.

"However, we are exploring the possibility that it is Vitoria," they added.

Officers have searched "a hugely significant area of land and coastline" along the River Blackwater, Dengie peninsula and River Crouch, along with 2.5km on the southern coast of Mersea Island, Det Supt Anna Granger added.

Granger has also asked owners of boats moored in Brightlingsea to check their vessels, and has called for anyone with CCTV of the harbour area to come forward.

Her friend Liliane Silva had said Barreto, who was "dreaming about maybe becoming a student one day" at the campus, was not herself on the morning they met up.

"She was really quiet, which is not typical at all - she is [usually] really talkative, and happy and funny," said Silva, 44.

"She was clearly not well, and I could not identify why."

Before the recent update, police said a white shoulder bag, matching a description of the one she was carrying, had been found on Copperas Road, near the town's waterfront.