“We don't believe she's dead” says sister of missing British resort rep three years on

PALMA
TOMORROW will mark the third anniversary of the disappearance of British travel representative Jacqueline Tennant while hiking in the Majorcan mountains but her sister, Monique, told the Bulletin yesterday that the family has still not given up hope of Jacqueline being alive.

Many of our readers and scores of British residents who took part in numerous searches for Jacqueline will know the story.
The 45-year-old from Reading, Berkshire, was working for First Choice at the Holiday Village Viva in C'an Picafort in Majorca and spent her days off during the summer of 2007 hiking round the island.

She was a members of the women's volunteer RAF and was a fit, healthy and qualified map reader, hence the reason why her disappearance still makes no sense to her family. “I was thinking of coming over this weekend but work commitments prevented me from doing so and, anyway, what more can I do?” Monique said yesterday. “The case is still open but there's no new insight into what happened to my sister. “It's very emotional for us. Mum keeps looking at her pictures asking us when she's going to come home while I've been reading the emails she sent me shortly before she disappeared on October 8. On the 12th we were due to fly out to Jamaica to see Dad.” (He passed away unaware of what had happened of his daughter). “The family is still distraught and we find it unbelievable that, if she is dead, Jacqueline's body has not been found by now. “Nothing's been found, not even a trace of her clothing or hiking equipment. “TV programmes here in the UK have brought about a few sightings but they did not lead to anything but I'm still hoping that there may be someone out there who did see her and will one day remember. We've read of stories of people who've been missing for years and then be found or turned up again, so we've certainly not given up hope. Not until we see a body anyway,” she added. “We as a family just don't feel she's dead, there's still so much love there. “We feel a little let down by First Choice, they've never contacted us since, not even a letter of support and thought, nothing,” she revealed. “I try to remain strong for the family but it's still very upsetting. I'm trying to sort out Jacqueline's affairs right now, it's very trying at times,” she said.

Monique, who brought some of the UK's finest search teams out to the island, revealed that she does intend to take legal action at a later stage but for the time being, the family just wonders when it is all going to end. “But, until we see some proof, we're neither giving up the search nor the hope,” she said. “As I said the case remains open, the police have her listed as missing so if people do see her, I urge them to contact the police immediately,” she added.

On October 8, 2007, the last call made to her mobile by her boss was picked up by a phone mast in Sierra de Tramontana in the north of the island at around midday, but nobody knows which route she took and there has been no sign of her since. “All she said was that the view was spectacular so she must have been near a summit,” said Monique.
However, Movistar were extremely slow and uncooperative with the Inca judge handling the case in narrowing down the signal location further, and gave the search teams and the frustrated Guardia Civil mountain search and rescue teams very little concrete evidence to follow.

That said, Monique has nothing but praise for the Guardia Civil who, despite the lack of clear information, immediately mounted a series of searches. They were given support by the Civil Protection department and a host of local volunteers - many of whom were British residents.

Jacqueline was reported missing on October 10 and Monique said that it was out of character for her sister to disappear for so long, especially since she was due to return home to go on holiday with her sister only days after she disappeared.

Monique is going to give it another year and if there is still no sign of Jacqueline by October 2011, she intends to hold a service of remembrance for her sister in Palma.