Family seek help of 'kidnapped' former Miss Brazil

The parents of a former Miss Brazil feared kidnapped in London have made a plea for information on her whereabouts.

Taiza Thomsen, 24, last spoke to her parents five months ago, saying she was in the capital.

Brazilian police have asked for assistance from Interpol and the British authorities to try to confirm whether she is in England.

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Her father, Antonio Thomsen, said: "If anybody knows where she could be, please contact us. We can't take it anymore, it's too sad."

He said there was no reason for her to run away and that she did not tell them she was planning to visit Europe.

"I don't have any idea about what might have happened," he said. "She has always been a caring daughter."

Miss Thomsen's mother, Angela, said she hadn't left the family home for weeks hoping for a phone call with information about her daughter, who was Miss Brazil in 2002.

"I leave messages on her mobile phone but nobody answers," Mrs Thomsen said. "If anybody is with her, please contact us, we can't live like this."

Police said they were not discarding the possibility that human traffickers played a role in her disappearance.

Her family said that in some of their conversations before she went missing she gave the impression she was being threatened.

Police investigator Marcos David Salem said: "We are contacting everybody who might have any information that could help."

One friend said that she talked to Miss Thomsen, a journalism student, on the telephone about three months ago. The friend, who was not identified, said the beauty queen had been planning to marry a Polish man she had met in England. The friend also said Miss Thomsen was not talking to her parents because she had fought with them.

Other friends suggested Miss Thomsen had worked briefly in Belgium and there was a possibility she was still there.

Her parents said she had stopped withdrawing the money her father paid into her bank account at about the time she went missing.

Miss Thomsen was given the title of Miss Brazil when the original winner Joseane Oliveira confessed to being married.

Miss Thomsen represented Brazil at the 2003 Miss Universe pageant in Panama and in the controversial Miss World contest in Nigeria that provoked riots and led to the deaths of 200 people.

Following her time as Miss Brazil, she moved 250 miles from her hometown of Joinville to Sao Paulo.