THE family of a missing mother-of-five have renewed their appeal for her to get in touch.

Jacqueline Swift has not been seen since Easter Monday, when she went to buy cigarettes from a shop only yards from her home in Furness Street, Hartlepool, at about 8pm.

Police in the town have launched a hunt for the 44-year-old and, despite appeals by her family and friends for her to get in touch, nothing has been heard.

Her sister-in-law, Ethel Kinnersley, said: "The whole family is going insane not knowing what is going on.

"I would just plead with her to get in touch with someone to let them know she is safe and well.

"The not knowing is killing us. Her children are desperate and cannot understand why she is not here."

Mrs Swift runs a wet fish shop with her husband, John, in the town's Raby Road.

He said he did not know why she would disappear, but assumed she may be suffering from work-related stress.

He said: "We just want her to come home."

Mrs Swift is slim, with blue eyes, mousey bobbed hair, of light complexion, with gold-rimmed glasses.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Hartlepool Police on (01642) 302126.