Laptop found in search for missing Brazilian woman

A picture shows the face of Barreto. She is wearing a blue turtleneck under a coat and glasses.

Vitoria Barreto had been staying in Essex with a friend while working on a research project [Family Handout]

Police searching for a psychologist from Brazil who has been missing in Essex for nearly two weeks have found a laptop.

Vitoria Figueiredo Barreto, 30, was last in contact with her family on 3 March and reported missing the next day.

Officers believe she may have taken a boat from a boat yard in Brightlingsea on 4 March, which was later found adrift. Her laptop was found on 14 March in the same coastal town.

Numerous potential sightings in the Bradwell area are also being investigated, Essex Police said.

The boat Barreto is thought to have taken was found adrift close to Bradwell-on-Sea and officers now believe it was missing a horseshoe-shaped buoyancy aid.

Police believe she was captured on CCTV on 4 March at 00:16 GMT jumping over a fence into a boatyard.

CCTV footage of person believed to be Barreto. They are wearing a dark coat and light trousers

Essex Police has released CCTV footage of a person, believed to be Barreto, at Brightlingsea boatyard [Handout/Essex Police]

Barreto, from coastal city Fortaleza in north-eastern Brazil, had been at a conference in Morocco before arriving in the UK on 2 February.

On 3 March, she 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.

Her family has urged the Brazilian community in Essex to display Brazilian flags, which they hope will attract Vitoria’s attention and make her feel safe and welcome.

Vitoria Figueiredo Barreto is smiling at the camera. She is wearing a light coloured shirt and there is greenery behind her. She has dark coloured eyes and hair.

[Essex Police]

Det Supt Anna Granger said: “Every single officer, staff member and volunteer involved in this search would love nothing more than to reunite Vitoria with her mum – and we’re working around the clock to do that.

“We have seen first-hand the support from the community in Brightlingsea, and further afield, which has been offered to Vitoria’s loved ones.

“Equally, we know many people from the community have been involved in raising the profile of Vitoria’s disappearance and that has helped to ensure a significant number of people across Essex now recognise her face and her clothes, and I would urge our whole community to please keep looking out for her and report any sightings or CCTV information to us as soon as possible.”