Around a hundred people gathered to throw flowers into the sea in memory of Debbie Griggs today.

The memorial event had been organised by her sister Wendie Rowlinson who began proceedings by saying: 'We got him!'

Her brief introduction on Deal Pier, in which she raised her arms in the air, was met by cheers and a round of applause from friends and family.

It follows their 20 year plight for answers over Debbie's disappearance in 1999.

The pregnant mum-of-three disappeared from the Deal home she shared with her husband Andrew Griggs on May 5 of that year and has not been seen since.

On Monday, 57-year-old Andrew was jailed for life and told he must serve a minimum of 20 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of her murder.

During sentencing, judge Lord Justice Spencer said he suspected Griggs had deposited her body at sea.

Speaking afterwards, Mrs Rowlinson told KentOnline: "After 20 long years justice has finally been served.

"The tears of family and friends can at last flow, sadly too late for Pat, our mother.

"We will celebrate this verdict for Debbie, but we can also start to grieve.

"Debbie, the missing part to our broken hearts.

"The last 20 years have been consumed with the loss of Debbie. Although life has gone on, not one day has passed without her in our thoughts.

"We are pleased with this outcome and hope our mother and sister can now, finally, Rest In Peace.

"We wish to thank the police, Andy Chapman - our liaison officer, Duncan Atkinson - our QC, the judge and the jury for helping us eventually get the justice we deserve for Debbie.

"The truth has finally come out.

"We hope Debbie's children now accept how much she loved them and know that she would never have left them.

"What we now need is for him to have the decency, be a man and tell us where Debbie lay."

Terri Compson had chosen bright pink gerberas in tribute to her cousin who she described as an 'earth mother'.

She said: "It feels strange.

"I suppose it’s because we haven’t got to fight any more. We’ve been fighting for 20 years.

"This feels like a bit of closure."

The group had walked from Deal Castle to the Pier where the flowers were thrown in.

Mrs Rowlinson threw the first flower - a red rose.

Others also chose roses or bright blooms and then stood in silence to watch the flowers as they passed under the landmark and floated towards Ramsgate.

Debbie's father Brian Cameron was also among those in attendance and could be seen hugging and thanking people for attending, but remained otherwise silent.

His wife Pat Cameron who died in January this year had made repeated pleas for their daughter to come home but in her interviews with our sister newspaper The East Kent Mercury always maintained that she believed Debbie's husband was responsible.

Since the verdict was delivered, Debbie's family have made pleas for Griggs to reveal the location of Debbie's body to allow them to lay her to rest.

Read more: All the latest news from Deal