A reporter has shared her determination to get justice for a missing man more than a decade since he was last seen.

Elizabeth Birt is pushing for answers for the family of Kyle Vaughan, who disappeared in December 2012 from Newbridge, South Wales.

Elizabeth first picked up Mr Vaughan’s story in 2019 while employed by the South Wales Argus as a Facebook-funded community reporter and made a strong connection with his family, who believe he was killed.

The Newport-based Argus splashed on the case after charity Crimestoppers doubled a reward for information about Mr Vaughan’s disappearance to mark his 35th birthday, highlighting previous coverage of the 11-year-old case on itss front page, pictured.

Elizabeth, who now serves as Argus owner Newsquest’s West Wales community content editor, told HTFP: “I picked the story up when I started at the Argus in 2019 just before Kyle’s 31st birthday as the family were doing a leaflet campaign posting through the doors in the Newbridge, Abercarn and Cwmcarn areas

“The Argus had covered it previously from the start and I think there’d been a gap after a previous reporter had left.

“It means a lot to me as I remember the initial reports of Kyle going missing when I was home from uni for the holidays as his car was found not too far from where I live.

“After building up a relationship with Kyle’s dad and speaking to other members of his family and some of his friends over the years, I’ve come to know how loved Kyle was as a person and seen just how badly it has affected Kyle’s dad.

“I want to be part of getting some form of justice, whether it’s just finding out where his body is or hopefully both finding Kyle and those responsible, or even just knowing that from some of the coverage, someone has come forward with some new information.

“Nobody should have to go through what Alan and the family have gone through and I can’t imagine spending more than a decade not knowing where a child is and the full story of what happened.”

Argus editor Gavin Thompson added: “This has been a high-profile missing case on our patch that the Argus has followed from the start, long before my time as editor.

“Kyle’s family have been desperate to keep the story in the news because they believe someone knows what happened to him.

“This story has been championed by Elizabeth Birt. Elizabeth was on the Facebook-funded community reporter scheme when I joined the Argus and this is a story on her patch and close to the community where she’s from.

“She’s built a relationship with Kyle’s family over the years and continues to cover the story at key points such as birthdays and anniversaries to keep it in the news, even though she’s since moved on to a role in our West Wales team so it’s no longer part of her job.

“Kyle’s mum Mary died in 2018 not knowing what happened to her son. His dad deserves answers.”