Meagher on CCTV footage: police
UPDATE 5pm: Homicide Squad detectives investigating the disappearance of Melbourne woman Gillian Meagher believe they have identified her on CCTV footage in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Police say the footage shows Gillian, also known as Jill, walking north in Sydney Rd, Brunswick, just south of Hope St, at 1.41am.
Gillian has not been seen since leaving Bar Etiquette in Brunswick at 1.30am on Saturday.
The ABC employee had been out with colleagues on Friday night and early Saturday morning.
Police say the CCTV footage will need to be thoroughly analysed before any of it can be released publicly.
Meanwhile, detectives spent three hours on Tuesday searching Gillian's Brunswick apartment, where they spoke to her husband Tom before leaving with several bags.
Police say the search was routine.
And, in another development, police say it is possible Gillian's handbag, which was found in a laneway on Monday morning not far from the bar where she was last seen, was placed there after initial searches over the weekend.
Homicide Squad Detective Inspector John Potter said Gillian had the handbag with her on the night.
He said the handbag was not found on the weekend during initial searches of the area around Bar Etiquette, which is less than 1km from Gillian's Brunswick residence.
The handbag was found at 6.30am on Monday by a member of the public in a laneway off Hope St.
"There's two possibilities. The first is that the handbag was put there after the initial search. The second is that the handbag was missed by the original searchers," Det Insp Potter said. "Both of those possibilities we have to scrutinise."
Det Insp Potter also expressed concern over the fact Gillian's mobile phone was missing and switched off.
He said while Crimestoppers had received a large number of calls in relation to the case, no one had reported seeing Gillian at either Bar Etiquette or Brunswick Green.
He appealed for anyone who saw Gillian at either establishment to come forward.
