Police search Byron Bay bush for missing woman Thea Liddle

Police are scouring bush on the NSW coast in search of a woman who hasn’t been seen alive for more than eight months.

Missing woman Thea Liddle.

Police are scouring Byron Bay bushland and its maze of homeless camps in search of a ­“nomadic” woman who hasn’t been seen alive for more than eight months.

Officers on Tuesday searched areas including bushland around the Youth Activity Centre near Byron’s town centre, looking for any sign of 42-year-old Thea Liddle.

Superintendent Dave Roptell, Tweed-Byron’s District Commander, said police would search several locations around Byron on Tuesday and Wednesday after investigations revealed Ms Liddle previously lived in camps in the area.

“Thea lived a nomadic, transient lifestyle … shifting from place to place, changing campsites often, and would opt for places in remote bushland away from the public,” he said.

Police in Byron Bay are searching for missing woman Thea Liddle.

Makeshift homeless camps and shelters are dotted throughout bushland around the northern NSW town, which is more typically in the headlines for its celebrity residents.

The camps were highlighted in The Australian’s investigative podcast The Lighthouse examining the disappearance of Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez during a night out in Byron in May 2019.

Ms Liddle was last seen in the Mooball area of northern NSW on Thursday, October 31, 2019. Her family reported her missing to Queensland police in January.

Tweed-Byron detectives have set up Strike Force Holby to investigate.

At the time of her disappearance, Ms Liddle was staying at a rural Mooball property with a 46-year-old male friend.

Strike force detectives have previously searched the property and areas around Nimbin.

Police in Byron Bay.

Officers from the Northern Region Operational Support Group, Public Order and Riot Squad and Police Rescue are assisting detectives in the search.