Daughters of missing Cardiff grandad Jamie Moreno issue desperate plea

‘I just wish I could tell him I’ve got a baby now. I know he would be so happy‘

THREE years after he disappeared without a trace, Jamie Moreno’s family have welcomed his first grandchild into the world.

Mr Moreno was 48 when he left his home on The Parade, Roath, one lunchtime and never returned.

Georgia and Tia Moreno-Rees were just teenagers when their father went missing and in the three years since, a lot has changed in their lives – including the arrival of his first grandchild four months ago.

“It’s been really hard, not even being able to tell him I was having a baby. I know he would have loved Kairo so much,” said Georgia, 22. 

“He would be in the Disney store buying the whole shop for him. That’s his favourite thing to do when there’s a new baby in the family.

“Dad’s missing all the first memories we’re making with Kairo. He’s already changed so much since he was born.

“I wish I could tell him I miss him and see his smile. He had the biggest smile ever.

“Kairo’s so smiley, he gets it from his grandad. He’s teething at the moment, but he’s still smiling.”

Tia, 21, also made a tearful plea to her dad: “It’s okay to come home. No-one’s angry, we just want you home. We miss you, and all we want to know is that you’re okay.”

South Wales Police believe he left sometime after 1.15pm, on March 23, 2020, the day lockdown was announced. He was last seen by a friend on Llanedeyrn Road, at around 2.45pm.

After so long with no new information or sightings, Mr Moreno’s family and friends have organised a search party at 10am on March 12.

The search party will be meeting at the Llanedeyrn Harvester, where Mr Moreno was last seen.

Mr Moreno, who is 5ft 9, may have a beard and usually wears a beanie. He took his phone and wallet with him, and his family described a distinctive walk, which would be recognisable by those who knew him.

“On the day he went missing, me and mum went over (to his house),” Tia said.

“We were there for about an hour or so. I said I would be back over tomorrow. I left a macaroni cheese and thought I could have it the next day.

“He said, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’. About an hour and a half later, Georgia came back and he was gone.

“The not knowing is the hardest thing about it. If it is the worst case scenario, at least we would know.”

Georgia was living with her father at the time and said she knew in her “heart”, as soon she got home, that something wasn’t right.

That wasn’t him, to just walk out on us. He thought the world of me and my sister.

Tia Moreno-Rees

“It makes me feel even worse because I wasn’t there,” she said.

“I always think, could I have known? Could I have done something different? If I stayed in that day, would it not have happened?”

Tia added: “A lot of people think we weren’t close and say that some parents just walk out.

“But that wasn’t him, to just walk out on us. He thought the world of me and my sister, that’s the thing that really affects me.”

Mark Pring came up with the idea for a search party as part of the #findJamie campaign, which he launched earlier this week to raise awareness about his missing friend.

“He’s been gone for nearly three years. He’s been on my mind a lot in that time,” said Mr Pring.

He said 250 people had joined the #findJamie group in just a few days.

“We’ve been offered drones, metal detectors and all sorts. I’m glad everyone wants to look for him and I hope his family will have some closure, just to rule out places they wanted to search before but lockdown interfered.

“So I thought, ‘let’s do this for Jamie and his family’. And that’s where #findJamie came from.”

Anybody interested in joining the search party can join Mr Pring’s Facebook group here.