DETECTIVES are awaiting permission from Ecuador police before flying to South America to join the hunt for missing backpacker Jenny Pope.
Jenny, from Mossley, Tameside, has not been heard of for more than a month after vanishing while travelling alone on her "trip of a lifetime".
Her cash card was used to withdraw money from her account which was closed after it exceeded its '1,500 overdraft limit.
It is still unclear if local police have examined CCTV footage of whoever emptied the account.
Greater Manchester Police have now written to their counterparts in Ecuador offering assistance in the search for clues to trace the 50-year-old mother of one. Detectives are awaiting a formal invitation before flying out.
Jenny, a nurse, kept in regular contact with husband David and 22-year-old son Stefan as she travelled through Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, sending e-mails and posting messages on a personal internet site.
Her last e-mail was sent from Banos, a mountain town in the Andes of Ecuador, on January 9.
It is believed she left a hostel in the town the following morning at about 7.30am to catch a bus to Quito, but money was taken from her account a couple of hours later in Banos.
There has been widespread media and poster appeals in Banos and Quito since Jenny was reported missing.
Stefan, a second-year American studies student, has appealed for help in tracing his mum on the Lonely Planet travel forum.
He wrote: "I really trust my mother, and if she was to start a new life in South America I know she would not hold back from telling us that this was her plan." He said he had to believe his mum was alive even if she was not in the best situation.
Mrs Pope set off for her trip around South America in September after taking six months off her job as a nurse at Lockside Medical Centre, in Stalybridge.
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Sue, Salford (11/02/2006 at 18:04)
This is a grown woman, who has gone out to South America of her own free will - no-one has forced her to go; and what good will GMP officers do in a country where they have no jurisdication and no idea of the area?
Leave the Ecuadorian police force to do their own work; I feel pretty sure that they've got an idea or two of their own and, in the meantime, these brave GMP officers can set about clearing some of the horrific crimes that happen right here on their own doorstep in Greater Manchester
Kerry, Middleton (13/02/2006 at 10:39)
Anonymous, Oldham (13/02/2006 at 23:09)
I hope that you never find yourself in the same situation!! I cannot understand why people like yourself have to be so god damn ignorant & Selfish.It's words of hope and optimisum that will being keeping this family going!! My thoughts and prayers are with the Pope family and i am praying for Jen's safe return home xx
Mo, mossley (15/02/2006 at 13:35)