To hear someone you love has gone missing is one of the worst things that could possibly happen.

For most of us it’s something we can barely imagine but for Rebecca Carr’s family it’s a reality they’ve had to live with for more than a decade.

Rebecca Carr disappeared almost 14 years ago and her story has become one of the most high profile cases in Kent.

Video: Rebecca Carr has been missing for more than a decade

She was twenty-two when she went missing in 2002 leaving her three-year-old son, Tyler, behind.

More than a decade on, new figures released by the National Crime Agency (NCA) have shown the number of missing people reported to Kent Police has decreased.

According to the NCA’s report released on October 25, Kent Police have recorded less than 9,500 reports of missing people this year.

It shows a decrease from last year as 2015 figures recorded 10,570 incidents. This year’s total has fallen to 9,475.

This comes as the national average has instead seen a 20% increase in the number of incidents reported to Police.

Joe Apps, NCA Manager at the Missing Persons Bureau, said one of the hardest things in a missing person case is the lack of closure for the families.

“When someone is reported missing, it has a powerful impact on the family,” he said.

“There is a bereavement in the family but it’s not a real bereavement because the family do not have a resolution.

“In terms of the data report, yes it’s about numbers and about fact and figures but behind everyone of those is a real person and a real family.”

On November 25, it will have been exactly 14 years since Lynne Simmonds’ daughter disappeared.

She said: “Police seem to think now, which I do think myself really, that she is no longer with us.

“I really do believe something terrible has happened to her and I believe someone out there knows something.”

She was last seen near Gillingham train station when her grandparents dropped her off to see her friends.

Although there have been false sightings, extensive police investigations and many family appeals Rebecca, who also went by the name Simmonds, has not been seen since.

Lynne, 57, of Bingham Road, Strood, and her other daughter Laura, who was 14 at the time, are still desperate to know what happened to her.

Laura said: “Each day you learn to live with it, you learn to live with the fact that she isn’t around.

“At the end of the day we know that somebody out there knows something.

“We just need closure,” she added.

Rebecca’s son Tyler will soon be celebrating his 18th birthday.

Laura said: “We still see a lot of Tyler and he is a big part of the family but obviously keeping that connection is hard without his mum.

“He’s so like her and reminds us of her in many ways and I think for him too some closure would also be nice.”

For now they are still waiting for information and it won't be until they have their questions answered that they can finally have a sense of closure.

Rebecca was 5ft 8in, slim and had mousy brown, curly hair at the time she went missing.

If you can help, phone the Missing People helpline on 116 000 or visit www.missingpeople.org.uk.