We spoke to friends of Sarah Wellgreen who told how 'out of character' the disappearance is for the mum who 'always put the children first'
A DEVOTED mum to five children, Sarah Wellgreen had just got a new job and boyfriend and was planning a girls’ day out with friends.
There seems no reason she should want to disappear.
But it is now two weeks since beauty therapist Sarah, 46, vanished without trace.
And with fears for her safety increasing, it is believed her complicated private life may hold vital clues.
Police and more than 200 volunteers have been scouring woods near the home she shares with her ex-partner, Nerf gun fanatic Ben Lacomba, 38, and their three children — six-year-old twins and a 12-year-old son.
Her car was left outside the four-bedroom house in the village of New Ash Green — one of architect Eric Lyons’ radical Sixties Span social housing developments — in the Kent countryside near Dartford.
The couple originally split up following the birth of the twins.
And Sarah, who has not contacted her family or used her phone or bank card since Tuesday, October 9, returned to her hometown of Portsmouth.
But six months ago, she moved back in with cab driver Ben, with friends saying the couple wanted to bring up the children together.
Sarah, who also has two older sons — Lewis Burdett, 22, and Jack, 21 — still worked in Portsmouth and is said to have spent time in Surrey, where colleagues believe she had found a new man through online dating.
Martin Prus, 46, her manager at Puresun Hair and Beauty Centre in Portsmouth, told The Sun this week: “She is always in different locations. She is a very busy woman.
“I know she had been travelling between Portsmouth, Kent and somewhere near Guildford in Surrey.
“We know she was connected to at least three areas.
“In Portsmouth she was with her eldest sons, and when in Kent she was with her ex-partner.
“They were sharing the children, that’s what I know.
“When near Guildford she was seeing a man. She had been going there for a few months. I know she had a new boyfriend and I met him once, he was a good guy.”
Mr Prus added that Sarah, thought to have been married three times, worked at the salon full-time for around two years before going part-time when she moved back to Kent.
She is also believed to own a home in Portsmouth which she rents out.
Mr Prus, who last saw her at work on the Saturday before she went missing, said: “Sarah is a strong person, the sort who absolutely loves what she did, which is what makes things even harder.
“She is a mother of five and worked hard to look after her kids.
“A third party might be the cause of her going missing — otherwise it just doesn’t add up.”
On Tuesday last week, police arrested a man in his 30s for questioning. He has since been released pending further inquiries.
Last night, Sarah’s distraught dad Anthony Wellgreen, 67, said: “I don’t understand it at all. It’s not in her character to disappear like this.
“Nothing like this has ever happened before. We are all so worried. Two weeks is a long time to be away.”
Her uncle Ronald Wellgreen, 61, added: “Wherever she went, her kids would go too as they meant absolutely everything to her.
“I know she has been back up in Kent recently and at the time she went missing.”
According to one neighbour, Sarah moved back in with Ben after she split up with a boyfriend.
She said: “For him to have her back is kind. He did the best for them.” Another neighbour, Joe Thomas, described Ben as an “extremely family-oriented man”.
He added: “He adores his children and is a great bloke. He’s the local taxi driver and gives lifts to people to help them out.
“He’s really into his Nerf gun wars, and he would play shooting games with his children.”
One of the last sightings of Sarah — who friends describe as a “bubbly” and “friendly” mum — was on the morning she disappeared.
Fellow parents at the school gates told The Sun how she appeared fine as they shared a laugh.
One dad said: “She made a joke and she was really happy and smiley, not acting strangely or like she was going to disappear.”
His partner said: “Sarah was a lovely mum and utterly attentive to her children.”
She added that she was “shocked” when Sarah moved back in with her ex in the summer.
She said: “Whether her and Ben ended up rekindling things I don’t know, but we never saw them together.”
Police have spent several days searching her home as well as trawling through social media and dating sites for clues.
She was known to have been hunting for love online over the summer and friends believe this is how she met her new man.
Officers have also used drones and dogs to search an area of woods they have cordoned off near her and Ben’s £265,000 terraced home.
Over the weekend, police also searched land and fields by a nearby private hospital and pub, and woodland in Ridley, about two miles away from where she lived.
Yesterday, search teams moved to Foxborough Woods, Hartley, around a mile from her street.
Despite her connections in other counties, Kent Police say no other forces are involved in the investigation.
Sarah’s oldest son Lewis has put out several appeals on social media, which have been shared thousands of times.
He described his mum’s disappearance as completely out of character, saying that she was “happy, with no problems”.
He said that the day before she went missing, she had also found out she had got a new job, adding: “So everything was great”.
Kent resident Neil Howick, 48, who has been using his drone to search woodland, said: “Everybody in the area will continue to work hard to try to find her.”
One of the most confused of Sarah’s friends is Katherine Griffiths, 47, who had been due to speak to her about a long-planned girls’ day out.
“This is so out of character for her,” she said. “She always put the children first. She is a very special person and I am praying she will come back safely.”
