New police searches in five-year hunt for mum

Police searching for a mother of three who disappeared more than five years ago have cordoned off two neighbouring properties.

Joanne Sheen, 44, was last seen when she travelled from Fareham to Southampton with a friend on 5 December 2019.

Hampshire police said it raided addresses in Union Road, Southampton, at 08:00 GMT on Monday and remain at the scene.

Officers in white forensics uniforms can be seen through an archway working at the rear of the terraced homes.

In 2020, five people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder Ms Sheen.

The three men from Southampton, one man from Basingstoke and one woman from Southampton, were later released with no further action.

In 2023, police searched a home in Parsonage Road, Southampton, and deployed a boat to search the Solent.

Officers also searched Empress Road, which police said was "an area we know Jo spent a lot of her time".

Ms Sheen, known as Jo, was reported missing by her family in February 2020.

A few days before she disappeared, she was seen by a police officer on 30 November 2019, in the Newtown/Nicholstown area of Southampton.

She is described as about 5ft 1ins (1.55m) tall, slim, with long dark brown hair.

Police previously said she did not have a permanent place of address, a vehicle or a bank account.

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