Mum `losing hope` Britt is alive

The mother of missing backpacker Britt Lapthorne says she is fast losing hope that her daughter will be found alive. But Elke Lapthorne is adamant a body recovered from the sea off Dubrovnik is not that of her daughter, after a newspaper claimed it bore similarities to the
21-year-old woman. "It's not Britt, I know it's not Britt," Mrs Lapthorne told reporters at her rural Eden Park property, north of Melbourne, on Friday.

It is more than three weeks since Britt went missing in Croatia, having last been
seen in the coastal city of Dubrovnik in the early hours of September 18.
Her father Dale Lapthorne, who is in Croatia with his son Darren frantically
searching for Britt, said a detective had denied the newspaper's claims that the
body resembled Britt.
"Bodies are found here about one a month in this area, some of them Mafia-style
killings," he said.
"This body bore the hallmarks of one of those killings."
Mrs Lapthorne said her hopes that Britt would be found alive were fading.
"I really don't know what to expect any more when I wake up and read what's happened
overnight in Dubrovnik. It's bizarre," she said.
"We need help. As every day goes by our anxiety is growing.
"I am losing hope. There are not highs any more, only lows. It's a roller-coaster
ride going down, down, down all the time."
The Lapthornes have criticised the Australian government, Australian Federal Police
(AFP) and Croatian police for their lack of support and urgency, but they now say
things have improved, albeit possibly too late.
"We've achieved what we wanted with the Australian government. We wanted them to
take this case seriously," Mrs Lapthorne said.
"Things are happening now, but I know they are happening too late.
"I'm just hoping the authorities over there are not using Britt or this body and
will identify it as Britt just so they can close the case over there. That's how it
feels at the moment."
Mrs Lapthorne said her husband Dale had lost the aggression he showed several weeks
ago.
She said he sounded drained and she was worried about her son Darren and his mental
state, as he was very close to his younger sister.
Meanwhile, the AFP leapt to the defence of its agent in Croatia, Marko Dokmanovic,
after media reports suggested he was not the right man for the job because he was a
staunch Serbian.
"Federal agent Dokmanovic is a detective with a background and expertise in complex
major investigations and in excess of 25 years' policing experience," the AFP said.
The agency said Mr Dokmanovic's ability to speak Croatian had helped establish quick
and clear lines of communication between the Croatian police and Australian
authorities.
Mr Lapthorne has criticised Mr Dokmanovic as being a "phantom" agent.
The AFP said Interpol had notified all 187 member countries of Ms Lapthorne's
disappearance and was giving high priority to the case.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he had "absolute confidence" in the AFP's handling of
the case.
"The police commissioner Mick Keelty has been on the phone to the chief of the
Croatian police, we've got a federal police officer on the ground, we have two
consular officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs on the ground," he told
Fairfax Radio Network.