'I talk to the stars and pretend they are you,' says mum of missing Leah Croucher from Milton Keynes

Clare and John Croucher still firmly believe their daughter did not leave them voluntarily and they refuse to let go of the hope that she is alive and perhaps being coerced to stay in hiding somewhere.

"I believe that she has been taken against her will, either by someone she trusted and considered a good friend, or by a stranger," said her mum Clare.

She and her husband John are convinced there is a third party who is withholding vital information about what happened two years ago today.

"Leah has been robbed of her life, her future. We have been robbed of so many wonderful milestones in both our children’s lives. Weddings, grandchildren, memories. Please tell us what you did to Leah, please tell us where she is, so we can bring her home and say goodbye to her properly," said Clare.

She added: “It’s now been two years since our beautiful, wonderful daughter Leah, left for work at 8.09am Friday 15 February and vanished without a trace. Missing. Gone. To say they have been a hard two years is an understatement. They have been the longest and toughest two years of our lives.

“This is another of a long line of appeals for information. Is this a waste of time as well? Will it leave us hoping for a brief period of time that we will finally get some answers, only to lead to the crushing disappointment when all the leads end up leading to a big pile of nothing? We expect so, yet we are so grateful for the opportunity to ask the public again for their help. Maybe this time will be different. We hope so with all our hearts."

The couple say the loss and uncertainty, far from getting easier, has become harder with every week that passes without their daughter.

“Leah, you have never left our thoughts for a moment. It may seem that at times to people that we are not thinking about you, but that is not true. We still have those awful questions screaming in our brains - where are you? What happened? We still dream about you. Dream that we find you or that you come home, out of the blue. That the police knock at the door to say they have found you, sometimes in the dream you are alive, sometimes you are not," said Clare.

“You are still the last thing we think about at night and the first thing we think about in the morning. It is not getting any easier with time. If anything, it is getting harder. The constant worry about what happened to you that day and every day since you disappeared. The worry just keeps growing and growing.

“I still can’t eat properly; we can’t sleep properly. There is nowhere to go at the minute as the world is in lockdown, but it doesn’t matter, we don’t want to go anywhere anyway. Theories keep circulating our brains, I am still struggling to believe that you chose this. Did you run away? Why would you? There was no reason for you to. We were all happy. We had just planned to decorate your room when we returned from our family holiday we had booked. You had the money saved to move out if you wanted. Why didn’t you take the money with you? Why didn’t you take any of your stuff with you?"

In November 2019, nine months after Leah vanished, John's only son Haydon took his own life, racked with grief and frustration that his sister had not been found.

The Crouchers clutched at the hope that Leah, if she was alive, would come out of hiding to attend the funeral of the half-brother she adored. But it was not to be.

Clare said: “I talk to the stars and pretend they are you because I have nowhere to go, no grave to visit. We can’t even lay flowers at the same time we visit your brother’s grave. We can barely go into your room anymore because it upsets us too much, it hurts, beyond belief, not to see you there, sitting in bed, watching TV.

"We miss your laugh so much. We miss your stories about your day at work. It’s so quiet here at home now. The house feels empty without you and your brother. We feel so alone and lost without you both.

“Leah you are not just our daughter, and it is not just me and dad who miss you. Your sister Jade misses you; your cousins miss you; your aunts, uncles and grandparents miss you. Everyone from our taekwondo family miss you. Your friends miss you. There are hundreds of people who want to know you are safe. There are thousands of people across the world that still share our social media posts, still talk about you on websites, still look for you when they are out doing their weekly shop. We all thank them for caring still.

“Do you understand how much of a positive influence you were on the people around you? Do you know how many of us care and are worried about you? You are such a kind, giving person. Your disappearance has affected everyone who knows you and many people who were never lucky enough to meet you. I still see comments on social media about how children are asking their parents if you have been found yet. You were loved by everyone you knew. You had a bright future, a good job and so many things to experience.

“Please Leah, if you are out there somewhere, just go into a police station and tell them who you are and send a message to us that you are OK, you are out there, safe. Call the Missing People charity, tell them you are safe. Better still, come home. Come home to a family who love and miss you.

“Leah, we miss you. We love you so much, we always have and always will. We want you back home so badly. Come home sweetheart. Please. Come back to your family.”

There is a £10,000 reward for information that leads to Leah being found, If you know anything at all, please call police on 101, quoting Operation Dawlish, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.