THE children of a missing 41-year-old woman from Poole have made an emotional appeal to ask their mother to get in touch.

Emma Palmer disappeared from her home in Sandbanks Road, Lower Parkstone, almost two months ago.

Her children, Alex, 18, and Josephine, 15, say they are going through the worst time of their lives.

Alex - on a gap year before going to Oxford Brookes University to study sound technology - saw her last on Saturday, September 10, at 7am.

He said: "I was in a rush, going to a sailing event in Weymouth and wasn't aware of anything out of the ordinary. She said 'make sure you win'."

Josephine and her father, Martin Palmer, 47, came back to the house after having lunch out and found three photos on the dining room table.

One was with Emma and Martin, one of her and Alex as a baby and another of her and Josephine as a baby. It did not look like she had used her toothbrush or put any make-up on.

Corfe Hills pupil Josephine, who has mock GCSEs coming up, said: "I knew something was wrong and we started to call friends and called the police.

"This is the worst time of our lives. We thought she would come back after one or two weeks."

Alex added: "At the time it was a shock but slowly its started to hit us as it's coming up to two months, and Christmas. We do not want to push her away. We just need to know she is OK."

Hospital receptionist Emma had been depressed and did not take her medication the day she disappeared.

She left her credit cards in her red Mini Cooper found abandoned in a layby on the A351 at Holton Heath near Wareham on September 10.

The last possible sighting of Emma was at midday on Friday, September 30, when a woman got out of a dark green Citroen car.

She walked towards a tack shop and on seeing an Emma Palmer missing poster put her hand over her mouth and went back to the car.

Emma is white, 5ft 6ins, with blonde highlighted hair. She was wearing oval gold-rimmed glasses, a shortsleeved pink Fat Face top, matching three-quarter length pink trousers and Reef flipflops.

Anyone with information about Emma should call Dorset Police on 01202 222222 or the National Missing Persons Helpline on 0500 700700.

First published: November 2