3:26pm UK, Friday May 16, 2008

A family's concern for their missing daughter has deepened after they found a photograph and letter to her 46-year-old lover.

Teenager's love letter

Lisa Wright, 16, has not been seen by her family for three weeks and is believed to be with Nigel Trowbridge, an unemployed grandfather 30 years her senior.

The note to Mr Trowbridge, found in Lisa's handbag, said: "As I sit here putting pen to paper I can see your face, hear your voice, feel your touch and taste your lips."

It went on: "I love you with all I'm worth, my heart, my soul, my body and my mind.

"I'm willing to become 'Mrs Lisa Veronica Trowbridge' for you."

Lisa, an A-grade student who was due to sit her GCSEs this week, did not arrive at the Jo Richardson Community School on April 28 and has not been seen since.

Police said they are "actively investigating" Lisa's disappearance, which they are treating as a missing person case.

Her mother Angela, 45, has put up several "missing" posters around their local neighbourhood of Dagenham, east London.

Mrs Wright, a dental nurse, claimed that her daughter was "completely infatuated" with Mr Trowbridge.

She has said she and her daughter had an argument about the relationship some time before Lisa's disappearance.

Mrs Wright spoke to her "shy and quiet" daughter last week, when Lisa insisted she did not care about her exams and loved Mr Trowbridge.

The teenager refused to say where she was.

Police have searched Trowbridge's flat where they found some of Lisa's clothes and a bottle of her perfume.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "We have concerns because of her age and continue to investigate.

"She is 16 so she is old enough to leave home if she wanted to but we are treating it as a missing person."

Officers from Barking Police are keen to hear from anyone who may have seen Lisa.

She is described as white, around 5ft 5in tall, with collar-length blonde hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information that may assist police should call the Missing Person Unit at Barking on 020 8217 7749.