VIDEO: 'Grave concerns' for Swinton woman who has been missing for more than a month

South Yorkshire Police issued a fresh appeal to trace Alena Grlakova (38), a Slovakian Roma, who was last seen on Boxing Day just after 6.30pm at the Travellers Inn, Broad Street, Parkgate.

This CCTV footage of Ms Grlakova that evening has just been released by police.

Investigating officer Supt Iain Chorlton said her mother and father in Slovakia were “gravely concerned” for her welfare.

He said Ms Grlakova, who lives on Thompson Drive, Swinton, had spent around 20 minutes at the pub with an unknown white male, of stocky build.

They had left the pub together, he said, adding: "They spent around 20 minutes together, in conversation, before they both left..

“That’s the last time we got a confirmed sighting of her.

“We’re gravely concerned because it’s been over a month now that she’s been missing and there’s been no sight of her.”

Supt Chorlton said Ms Grlakova had indicated that she was going to leave the UK and return to Slovakia — but she never arrived home.

He said her family in Slovakia reported her missing on January 15.

Supt Chorlton said Ms Grlakova was now regarded as a high-risk missing person.

“We regard her as high risk because of the fact she has been missing for more than 30 days and she’s got a chaotic lifestyle, which makes her vulnerable,” he said.

“She hasn’t got a settled life, family life, it’s chaotic. She’s transitory in where she lives and her relationships with people seem to be transitory.”

Supt Chorlton said it was possible Ms Grlakova could be with the male or other unknown people.

“We are following lots of lines of enquiry, interviewing witnesses and looking at CCTV,” he said.

“She could be evading police or hiding from someone and we are concerned.

“She’s not in any trouble — we need to bring her back safely.”

Ms Grlakova is described as having blonde shoulder length hair and being of a slim build.

She has a tattoo on each hand — one which says ‘Alena’ and another which says ‘Stella’, the name of her daughter.

Anyone with information about where she might be is asked to call the police on 101 quoting incident number 450 of January 15.