East

On May 12, 2006, 19-year-old Luke Durbin went out clubbing with friends in Ipswich.

He went for a few drinks with friends in Woodbridge, then they got a taxi to Ipswich and went to Zest nightclub.

During the evening Luke’s friend went to the bar to get drinks and when he returned he couldn’t find Luke.

A mother's pain - Nicki Durbin.

He searched for about 20 minutes, then assumed Luke must have gone home.

CCTV footage shows Luke trying to get a taxi in the town centre at 3.40am.

As he had planned to stay at his friend’s house, his mother didn’t realise he was missing until Saturday, when the friend rang for him.

At that point she became uneasy.

When his mother, Nicki Durbin, found out he hadn’t been at work on Friday, panic set in.

She rang round friends, then hospitals and then called the police.

No trace has ever been found of Luke.

Devastating time

For the past two years, Luke’s mother Nicki has constantly campaigned to find out what happened to her son.

At the time Luke disappeared, Nicki felt her life was perfect.

Luke had just come through a bad teenage patch in his life and become a bit directionless.

But he’d suddenly snapped out of it. Luke had got a job, and his mum felt she had got the old Luke back.

Luke had got everything going for him.

When Luke first went missing, Nicki says life was all a blur.

Once the police got involved, Nicki found a photograph. They told her they were searching rivers and the area close to where he disappeared.

Then Nicki sat by the phone waiting for any news.

She remembers being at home and screaming.

A mother's pain

Nicki Durbin organised a march in early 2008 which involved getting lots of parents together in London.

After that she says that she became very very depressed, and didn’t know where to turn.

Nicki says she really couldn’t take the pain at all.

Living in hope that Luke will return.

She says, "I think of Luke every day, but I cannot mourn Luke, like if Luke had died in a tragic accident that night.

"I'm not being flippant saying that, particularly to any families who've lost somebody in that way. But there is a process in mourning… families of missing people don't have that process."

Anniversaries are very bad for her to deal with.

On the first anniversary she did publicity, but by the second Nicki wanted to work and be normal.

She felt it was becoming more important than birthdays, and you didn’t take days off work for their birthdays.

Nicki realised that this 2nd anniversary felt different.

She is now wanting to find out what happened - she thinks Luke is dead, but can’t get any peace until she finds out what happened.

Staying alive

Six hundred people go missing every single day - many of them are teenagers and adults.

Acting Detective Inspector Ian Addison of Suffolk Police thinks that young people in general should be more streetwise:

"A lot of young people don't realise the risks that are out there.

"Unfortunately we see the aftermath of it. It's not about not being cool or anything like that, it's about staying alive.

"People have to find their feet and it shouldn't make you afraid of going out there and taking risks, but at the end of the day be sensible about what you are doing…"

Unanswered questions

For two years Nicki has lived in hope of hearing some news about Luke.

She finds it very hard to rationalise why a young man disappears.

Mum and Detective Inspector Ian Addison.

Nicki currently works as a fundraiser for a local charity, Out and About, which takes disabled kids on trips.

She got the job as a result of her publicity drive surrounding Luke - and it helps her to focus on something positive.

But Nicki will always live with the pain of losing Luke... and hopes that one day she may find the answers to the circumstances around his disappearance.

She says, "Ninety nine per cent of me knows Luke is dead, but sometimes I'll hear about a new sighting and I can convince myself he is still alive…"