THE LATEST SEARCH for a Co Down woman who went missing 15 years ago is set to end, police have confirmed.

The large-scale search operation to find Lisa Dorrian was launched in April at the caravan park where the then 25-year-old was last seen alive.

New technology was used during the effort at a disused airfield beside Ballyhalbert Caravan Park on the Co Down coast.

Dorrian has been missing since 28 February 2005. Police believe she was murdered.

PSNI Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy said the latest searches will end soon.

“Those searches are likely going to come to a conclusion in the fairly near future and I suppose the question for us and for the Dorrian family is what next? That’s the answer that at the minute I just don’t have,” he told UTV.

“I’m going to take some time at the end of these searches to reflect and see what, if anything, needs to be done next.”

Murphy went on: “I’ve said to Lisa’s family many times, that money and resources won’t be the obstacle to seeking and finding Lisa’s body.

“Equally, what I can’t do is go looking for a needle in a haystack without some degree of science, or some degree of confidence, that tells me that the haystack is the right place to be looking.”

Police have pursued more than 3,500 lines of inquiry and carried out almost 400 searches including extensive air, land and sea operations since Dorrian’s disappearance in 2005.