Mark Titus • Freelance Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

"I told her not to go," Jasmine Johnson said of her 27-year-old daughter Diane Andrea Jackson, who has been missing since Friday.

With tears in her eyes, she sat outside her shop in the usually quiet community of Santoy district in Hanover, looking as though she expected to see her daughter walk up the road at any time.

A blanket of gloom hung over the community where the many residents volunteered their time to accompany a police search party with a prayerful hope of finding their young neighbour alive.

"I can't believe this is happening. Andrea is very quiet and she does not interfere with anyone," sobbed Mrs. Johnson. "I told her not to go."

The mother was referring to Andrea's arranged meeting with a man, who introduced himself during a telephone conversation, as a cellmate of her boyfriend at the Lucea Police Station lock-up.

The man, who is now in police custody, has also been linked to the murder of 25-year-old Patrice Clarke of Windsor Castle in Portland, whose body was found in Elgin Town on Monday.

Clarke was reported missing on Saturday after she left for Hanover to meet the suspect, whom she reportedly met through a mobile chat room service.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green has since warned the public to exercise greater caution with phone and Internet dating services. ACP Green said that police forces worldwide were "totally powerless" to adequately police the Internet and telephone dating services.

"The advice I would give people using this service is the same I would give to young people using the Internet," said ACP Green.

"You should never go and meet someone that you don't know and if you do you make sure it is in a public place and do not leave with that person before telling people that you know where you are going."

Mrs. Johnson told The Gleaner that Andrea got a call from the suspect on Thursday night to collect a package that he had received from abroad for her two-year-old baby.

"But before she left the house the morning, I told her not to go anywhere because she did not know who the person is," the mother lamented.

Andrea, who also mothers three other children aged 12, nine and seven, left with her sister Amarica on Friday morning for the meeting in Point, Lucea.

Amarica recalled that her sister was constantly on her cellular phone reportedly talking to the suspect who at one point asked if she was with someone in a red blouse when they neared the meeting place.

"Andrea told him yes and it look like he was angry and told her that he did not like crowd," Amarica recalled. "I said to her if me and har a crowd and told her to turn back."

They postponed their intended destination and Andrea, after one of her children's fathers called, told Amarica to say that she was going back to meet the jailed babyfather's friend, despite repeated warnings.

Andrea has since been missing and the Hanover Police were yesterday combing the parish in search of her.

Chat warning

While telecommunications and the Internet allow us freedom to contact whomever we want, users should remain cautious that those same freedoms may be abused by criminals.

Tips for safe communication

Always make sure that children at home and students at school inform the responsible adult about what they are doing online.

Be wary that, while a chat room can be intended for use by children, paedophiles can lie about their ages to enter.

Use filters that block websites with inappropriate content.

Unwanted - or 'spam' - mail can also be blocked by filters and similarly with unsolicited calls via Internet telephone services.

Only open email attachments that come from known persons and organisations.

Download only from trusted websites.

Keep your security software and firewalls updated to keep out attacks.

Never let children give personal details or contact information to strangers.Be wary when doing so yourself.