The boyfriend of a missing woman who vanished seven years ago has finally broken his silence in a new documentary – and revealed crucial new information.
Georgina Gharsallah from West Sussex went missing on March 7, 2018 while living at her mother’s house and, in the words of investigators, it was like she ‘almost vanished into thin air’.
CCTV footage of her last confirmed sighting showed the mother-of-two going into Clifton Food And Wine in Worthing town centre to get her phone fixed.
A year and a half later, after finding ‘no proof of life’, Sussex police upgraded their investigation to a ‘murder probe’ – but the 30-year-old’s body has never been found.
With cops left baffled, Emilia Fox and David Wilson decided to investigate the case in a new Channel 4 documentary – In The Footsteps Of Killers – speaking to new witnesses and reviewing evidence.
The pair finally tracked down and spoke to Chris Slater, Georgina’s boyfriend of a year at the time.
Giving his first interview ever, Chris said he was ‘definitely not’ involved in any aspect of her disappearance, saying: ‘The only thing I was worried about was Georgina’s wellbeing at the time, and where the hell she could have gone.’
After she vanished, Chris said he kept trying to contact Georgina, but his calls kept going to answerphone and, after he spoke to her mother Andrea, she was finally reported missing.
Georgina Gharsallah from West Sussex went missing on March 7, 2018 while living at her mother’s house
Georgina’s boyfriend at the time of her disappearance – Chris Slater – has broken his silence in a new Channel 4 documentary
It was then Chris finally gave the investigators a much-longed for lead – as he revealed she would go to Brighton, where she worked in the Albion Kebab Shop, whenever they had an argument.
Speaking about their relationship, he said: ‘When she got upset, she was a bit fiery, she had a bit of a temper on her. I could be the same, we were like two peas in a pod.’
He added: ‘Everyone knew Georgina, she had connections to people in Brighton.’
With the help of criminologist Dr Graham Hill, the kebab shop opened up an unlikely new pathway of investigation into the case.
Graham revealed that in 2017, at the time Georgina was working there, Albion Kebabs operated under a different name and had been linked to an organised Albanian crime group supplying cocaine to the area.
David Wilson, investigating the case, also spoke to ‘Andy’, a former undercover police officer who had previously looked into the crime gangs.
Speaking anonymously, the officer revealed the kebab shop had been ‘a focal point’ of the previous investigation into the crime gangs in 2017.
‘Andy’ said that if someone became involved with the gangs ‘there would be some serious violence’ – and that they had the power to ‘make people disappear’.
Chris said he and Georgina had been dating for around a year at the time of her disappearance (pictured together)
Now, a kebab shop in Brighton could be the unlikely clue to solving the seven-year mystery (file image). It is believed to have been under different ownership when Georgina worked there
Although Chris says he doesn’t know what happened to Georgina, he gave the investigation further information when he recommended looking in Brighton
Police described Ms Gharsallah as 5ft 2in tall, with shoulder-length dark hair, often worn in a top knot with a piercing above her left lip
While there remains no evidence that Georgina was involved with the gangs or even knew about their operation, even an unknowing involvement could have put her in serious danger.
‘It’s becoming difficult to ignore that Georgina might have been connected to the darker side of Brighton,’ Emilia concluded, after hearing the new evidence.
The documentary also heard from Andrea Gharsallah, Georgina’s mother, who has been campaigning to find her daughter in the seven years she’s been missing.
Andrea last saw her daughter on the morning on March 7, 2018, straightening her hair at home, before she headed into town to get her phone fixed.
Recalling their last conversation, she said: ‘I said, “see you later, love you”, and that was it.’
Georgina was seen in Andrea’s garden by a neighbour ‘acting perfectly normally’, before she headed into town at around 9.30am – subsequently being seen on CCTV footage in the local shop.
Andrea told the programme: ‘I used to think, I don’t want the bad answers.
‘But I’ve got to that stage now, where I think, even if the answers are not good, I think I would need to have it.’
Georgina left her mother’s home before walking to a corner shop. She was later spotted on nearby CCTV, but was never seen again
The mother-of-two was last seen on CCTV in a mobile phone shop in Worthing in West Sussex on 7 March, 2018, with ‘a number of mobile phones’
Ms Gharsallah was reported missing to Sussex Police on 17 March, 2018. A year and a half later, the investigation became a murder probe
She revealed further CCTV footage of two women walking down Chappell Road, convinced it was her daughter as she recognised ‘her walk’ and ‘the way she moved her arm’.
But when the footage was analysed by Tessa Mecklam, a digital forensics analyst at Acume Forensic, it proved inconclusive.
Tessa said she ‘would not’ be able to definitively say it showed Georgina’s movements on the day she went missing and had noted ‘small details’ of discrepancy between the Chappell Road footage and the confirmed CCTV sighting in the shop.
Tessa said the bottom of the two coats were slightly different in the two sightings, while one of the bags seemed to have an extra strap.
With no leads, the police had reclassified the case as a murder inquiry in 2019 after carrying out a ‘proof of life’ inquiry – and finding no evidence such as repeat prescriptions, claiming benefits, or using a bank card.
Two men were arrested on suspicion of murder after a witness saw Ms Gharsallah talking to two men in Worthing, on the evening of March 7.
They were later released with no further action and no one has ever been charged.
Georgina had two sons and shared joint custody with the father, and was a ‘loving mum’ by all accounts.
Her mother Andrea added in the documentary: ‘She was very friendly, very bubbly, very vivacious. She could also be quite anxious, a little bit withdrawn at times.
Georgina’s mother Andrea (pictured) said the family had been let down by police
‘She did have some issues with alcohol, but was in no way an alcoholic.’
The family previously identified a string of alleged failings including key CCTV footage not being reviewed for more than a year, and a failure to place Georgina on an Interpol watchlist for more than 18 months.
They also said nine potentially significant segments of CCTV were lost by Sussex Police, ‘without explanation.’
A former Met Police inspector claims the probe would have been handled differently if Georgina ‘had blue eyes and was middle class’.
There is now a £20,000 reward available for any information that could lead to arrest or conviction.
In March this year, the lead detective in the case wrote an open letter on the anniversary of her disappearance, calling for anyone with any information to help end family’s ‘pain and heartbreak’.
Detective Superintendent Andy Wolstenholme, the senior investigating officer on the case, made an impassioned fresh appeal for those who know what happened to Georgina to come forward.
In the letter he writes: ‘Seven years. Seven long years, you’ve kept a secret that is causing so much pain and heartbreak. Isn’t it time you gave it up?
‘Georgina is loved and missed by so many people – her mother, her father, her children, her sisters, and her friends.
‘They are desperate for answers about what happened to her on this day in March 2018. Don’t you think they deserve to know?
With cops left baffled, Emilia Fox and David Wilson (pictured) decided to investigate the case in a new Channel 4 documentary – In The Footsteps Of Killers
Detective Superintendent Andy Wolstenholme, the senior investigating officer on the case, made a fresh appeal back in March
‘Put yourself in their shoes. They’ve endured sleepless nights waiting for Georgina to come home. They’ve replayed conversations and moments spent with Georgina, not realising at the time they would be the last ones before she disappeared.
‘They’ve not been able to move forward with their lives for fear of leaving Georgina behind. Imagine if that was someone you loved – how would you cope with such torment?
‘You have the power to change that. The information you have could bring an end to all the unanswered questions and provide some form of closure to Georgina’s family. Keeping that to yourself is a lot to have on your conscience, isn’t it?
‘We know you might be scared, but that’s why we give people the option to report anonymously through Crimestoppers. No one ever needs to know the information came from you.
‘You might not know the whole truth, and you might think the small snippet of information you have is irrelevant. It’s not.
‘Are you protecting someone? If so, ask yourself the question – would they do the same for you if things got tough or the tables were turned?
‘We’re asking you to do the right thing and share the information with us. Do it for yourself, to be free from that burden of knowledge.
‘Do it for Georgina’s family and friends, to ease the anguish of not knowing what happened to her. Do it for Georgina, because she deserves justice. What’s stopping you?’
In a statement to Channel 4, Sussex Police said: ‘A full review of the early stages of the police investigation was completed and we accept it found missed opportunities to secure and review some CCTV footage in a timely manner.
‘Our Chief Constable met with Georgina’s family to apologise for that and to ensure them of our ongoing commitment to the investigation.
‘We will continue to investigate any viable lines of enquiry and ask anyone who has any information relating to Georgina’s disappearance, no matter how small, to report it to us.’
In The Footsteps Of Killers airs Tuesday at 10pm on Channel 4.
