Ambassador to help missing nurse family

Louise Kerton was last seen at a railway station

The parents of a student nurse who went missing in Germany have won the backing of the German ambassador after he agreed to become personally involved in the case.

The family of Louise Kerton, 24, are privately marking the first anniversary of her disappearance, which happened on 30 July 2001.

But they are no closer to knowing what happened to her, despite pushing the German authorities into investigating her case.

We are sure Louise is dead but we want and need to know how she died

Philip Kerton, Louise's father

The student nurse disappeared while visiting her boyfriend's family near Bonn, the former capital of Germany.

On Monday, her family met the German ambassador in London, a move which has built on their success last month in persuading the German authorities to launch a criminal investigation.

The ambassador, Thomas Matteuak, told them: "I can feel the pain and I can understand the grief and the hell that you must be going through."

In a statement, he said: "We agreed that from now on we will stay in constant touch."

On Tuesday, it was understood that German TV were highlighting the case, with Ms Kerton's family hoping the broadcast could bring a lead to solve the mystery of her disappearance.

Philip Kerton wants to know what happened to his daughter

Philip Kerton said it was hard for the family to get on with their lives.

"We are sure Louise is dead but we want and need to know how she died, so we can have a factual situation to come to terms with instead of this situation of not knowing," he said.

"It is very hard for us."

Her disappearance - days after she learnt she had failed her final nursing exams - followed the high profile case of Lucie Blackman, the former air hostess found raped and murdered in Japan.

Louise Kerton and Lucie Blackman were friends and had attended the same private school in the south of England.

Life savings

But despite intensive searches, no trace of the 24-year-old has been found.

In May this year her family employed a retired police officer from north Wales to try to speed up the inquiry.

In the same month, a German police officer told the BBC Wales current affairs programme, Week In Week Out, that he believed Ms Kerton is probably dead.

Her parents now live in Kent, but her mother Kathy is originally from Holywell in Flintshire, and her father Philip from Abergavenny in south Wales.

The couple have spent their life savings looking for her, and relatives from all over Wales have joined searches in Belgium and Germany.