Lana with her daughter

THE family of a missing mother have made a fresh appeal for information on the 10th anniversary of her disappearance.

Lana Purcell, from Queen’s Crescent, would have been celebrating her 37th birthday with relatives this week, but instead they are still asking questions about how she could have vanished in January 2011.

A police reward of £20,000 was offered last year as the agonising wait for answers goes on.

Davina Purcell, Lana’s sister, told the New Journal: “It has been 10 years since we last saw Lana – and that is just too long. How can someone live with themselves knowing they hold the key to what has happened to my sister? How can someone sleep at night, knowing the daily pain we suffer?

“As a family, we really need closure. I never thought, 10 years down the line, I’d still be out looking for my sister. We stop and wonder, where have the 10 years gone? Our family have had years of not knowing, unable to come to terms with what may have happened, hoping something may turn up.”

Lana’s disappearance was at first regarded as a missing person’s case by police and relatives who put up posters themselves in the hope of finding out what had happened.

Detectives from a cold case murder team have more recently taken over the investigation.

Davina said: “If Lana could read this, I’d tell how much we miss her, and say ‘if you are out there, please just make contact’ – but we know in our hearts she would have come home by now. Someone out there knows what happened and we are desperate for any information that can finally give us some peace.”

SEE ALSO LANA PURCELL: DETECTIVES OFFER £20K REWARD FOR HELP SOLVING WOMAN’S DISAPPEARANCE

Lana, who was well known in the Queen’s Crescent and Agar Grove areas, went to Parliament Hill School as a teenager. She suffered from drug addiction and sometimes earned money as a sex worker to fund her habit.

Police searches in Gospel Oak in 2016

Her family say she was a loving mother, sister and daughter who would regularly visit them.

Various leads have been followed up over the years including a search of a Gospel Oak property she was known to visit, but nobody has been charged with any wrongdoing.

There have been rumours that Lana had fallen out with a violent drug dealer, or had been targeted by a gang who had used her flat to deal crack cocaine, but those enquiries have not revealed any new clues.

Davina added: “Time has passed, [and] people’s situations, loyalties and friendships change, so maybe someone can now step forward anonymously. We miss her so much, every single day. We need to know the truth.”

Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.