'She was a lovely lady': Julia Rawson remembered by Dudley Market traders

A missing woman who is believed to have been murdered has been described as a "lovely lady" by a former boss who worked with her on a town centre market.

Julia Rawson has been missing since May 12 and is at the centre of a huge murder investigation.

Detectives believe she has died but her body has not been found.

The 42-year-old worked on Dudley Market on and off for "a number of years". She most recently lived in a house share with five other people in the Kates Hill area of the town.

Len Lenihan, the former chair of Dudley market traders, said Ms Rawson was pleasant and shy but believes she had "issues" in her life.

He said she was last seen on the market, where she sold a range of items including incense and cigarette cases, around "five or six years ago".

Police searched a house in Mission Drive, Tipton, and a nearby canal over the bank holiday weekend in the hunt to find Ms Rawson. Two men have been charged with her murder.

Detectives have been trying to piece together her movements in the final days before she went missing. A neighbour reported seeing her near her home over Easter.

Mr Lenihan said: "She worked on the market for a number of years some time back.

"She was a pleasant young lady. She was quite eloquent to speak to but she was quite shy.

"She was always struggling to find time to do it, she was trying to do other things I think. She would try it for a while then she would leave and come back again.

"She obviously had more important things going on in her life that intervened and became more important than the market.

"She wouldn't come for weeks and weeks, she would come back and then she would disappear again.

"I always welcomed her back, I knew she was struggling. She seemed to have ideas to go on to something else, it was a stopgap to where she wanted to be.

"She would often say she wouldn't be here tomorrow as she has got to do such and such.

"I would see her on a regular basis but I didn't know her that well."

The ex-market boss said she was shocked to hear Ms Rawson had likely been murdered.

He said: "I am immensely shocked and saddened that someone could come to such a sad end. She was a lovely young lady, she was well-mannered. I'm just amazed and shocked."

Nathan Maynard-Ellis, 28, of Mission Drive, Dudley Port, Tipton, and David Leesley, of Dereton Close, Russells Hall, Dudley, have been charged with her murder.

They are due to appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court today.