A LEDBURY man says new police enquiries into the mystery disappearance of his sister 21 years ago have made him question his long-held belief that she drowned in the Severn.

Phil Miles, 64, now suspects that “something untoward”

may have happened to sister Angela Bradey in 1995 – or that she could still be alive.

Troubled Angela, 34, who had suffered from anorexia and underwent an abortion after becoming pregnant in a psychiatric hospital, disappeared on January 16 in 1995.

It was only days after she had been discharged into the community because of the closure of Coney Hill Hospital in Gloucester.

Her car, a white Citroen AX, was found abandoned alongside the Severn in Tewkesbury.

Her spectacles were on the dashboard and the keys were in the ignition. But her body has never been found.

Phil said today that the police, who launched a 21st anniversary appeal for more information about Angela in January this year, are now not ruling out foul play.

“I had always assumed she went into the river,” said Phil.

“But I think the police now feel that the leaving of the car by the river was a decoy.

“The police have pointed out to me that when someone goes into the river the body always surface sooner or later. Angela’s never has.

“My gut feeling has now changed and I now wonder whether something unforeseen happened to her.”

Phil is hoping that police plans to talk to Angela’s husband, others who knew her and retired police officers involved in the original inquiry will – with the help of new technology – shed more light on the mystery.

Angela’s parents, Andrew and Florence, who lived in Gloucester, died five months apart in 1993 and 1994, both in their nineties, still wondering what happened to their daughter.

Florence held onto the belief that Angela was still alive and would one day return. Poignantly, she gave Phil some money to pass on to Angela if she ever came back.

But Andrew was convinced that ‘something sinister’ had happened to his daughter.

“Mother was stronger about it and it upset my father more than her,” said Phil. “It got to the point that they didn’t talk about it.

“I told them that if she ever re-appeared I would look after her whatever state she was in and we have a room here for her to stay in.

Angela’s weight had dropped to four-and-a-half stone about a year before her disappearance, which was the main reason she was admitted to Coney Hill Hospital. While in hospital she became pregnant by another patient, but was advised to terminate the pregnancy because of the medication she was taking, Phil said, She was still married, but she and her husband had separated.

The abortion made her depressed but when the hospital closed days before her disappearance she was much better, weighed 13 stone and was driving again, Phil said.

She moved out of Coney Hill to a ‘half-way house’ where she was living with other patients until her disappearance.

On the evening she vanished she was relaxing with housemates but then suddenly said ‘I’m late. I’ve got to go.’ No-one knew what she could be late for or where she was going.

Another puzzling aspect of the case is that three months before her disappearance Angela had withdrawn £9,000 from her bank account – an amount that would be worth far more in 1995 than now. No explanation for that withdrawal, which was made while she was still in hospital, has ever been found.

Detective Constable Dave Nichols, who is in charge of the new investigation, said Angela’s disappearance has been reviewed by specialist officers from the National Crime Agency.

“We are now reviewing the evidence and have spoken to a number of possible witnesses in connection with her disappearance,” he said.

“We would still appeal to anyone who hasn’t come forward yet to do so.

“If you have information, saw Angela during those last hours or even think you have seen her since, please call us on 101.

“Angela’s family have had to live without knowing for 21 years but if we can find answers we may be able to give them some closure.”