The parents of a mother who has been missing for three years have made a tearful appeal for information on her whereabouts.

Ryszard and Bozena Smolka spoke at a Leicestershire police press conference to help find their daughter, Malgorzata Wnuczek.

Ms Wnuczek, who is from Poland, was 27 when she vanished in June 2006. At the time, she was living in Leicester.

Her parents hope their appeal, which will be broadcast in the UK and Poland and posted on the internet, will help solve the mystery surrounding their daughter's disappearance.

Speaking in halting English during yesterday's press conference at police headquarters, in Enderby, a distressed Mrs Smolka said: "Please help find my daughter."

Mr Smolka, speaking through an interpreter, said: "Today, 37 months have passed since our daughter's disappearance.

"We live under constant stress, but also hope that everything will turn out well.

"Words cannot express the pain we carry in our hearts. Daily we gain more wrinkles and our hair gets greyer with worry.

"How can we live when for three years we have not had even the smallest piece of information?

"We believe that through the press, radio and TV, more people will find out about our daughter's case."

Mrs Smolka said Ms Wnuczek's six-year-old daughter, Aleksandra, also known as Ola, had only recently begun to understand the situation. She said: "At first, Ola did not realise what had happened.

"But later she started asking questions, and we told her that we did not know what had happened to her mother."

Police last month posted a short film, on the website YouTube, of Ola appealing for sightings of her mother.

Officers said the footage had raised the profile of the case in the UK and Poland.

Police also announced yesterday that DNA samples taken from the family will help the investigation.

There are currently 23 unidentified dead women in mortuaries across the UK. The family DNA profile will be checked against those of the bodies.

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Worth, who is leading the investigation for Leicestershire police, said Ms Wnuczek had been linked to more than 20 flats or houses in Leicester during her seven months in the city.

Officers have so far interviewed around 150 former friends, associates or work colleagues of the 30-year-old.

Around 300 people, some of whom have now left the Leicester area, are still to be spoken to, said Det Chief Insp Worth.

"One thing we want to make very clear is that at this stage there is no evidence that Malgorzata is dead," he said.

Information about Ms Wnuczek can be passed to Missing People on 0500 700 700, or people can call a dedicated Leicestershire police hotline, staffed by Polish-speaking officers, on 0116 248 4162.