A MISSING woman who last spoke to her family ten days ago has been photographed in a Tunisian nightclub.

The picture, which sources say was taken by a bartender on Thursday night, shows mother-of-two Melissa Everest, 40, drinking shots in a beachfront resort with the man she went to North Africa to divorce.

But Melissa’s family in Lancing, who have been frantically worried about her after she said she was coming home but now cannot contact her, say they are still “going through hell,”.

They said that in the picture her face looks bruised and swollen and raised doubts over when the photograph was taken.

Meanwhile officials remain tight-lipped over why they believe she is unharmed.

The Argus obtained the exclusive picture after reaching out to Tunisian sources following yesterday’s front-page story that Melissa had not been heard from since telling her 16-year-old son on Wednesday, July 13, “see you tomorrow.”

Melissa missed her flight home the next day and has not called or posted anything online since then.

Mehdi Bahi, chairman of the Association of Tunisians in Britain, told The Argus: “What I’ve heard is that she is there and the she doesn’t want to come back to England.”

According to Mr Bahi, Melissa, and 23-year-old husband Adem Brins Harrabi, - whom she was due to divorce following the collapse of their year-long marriage - were interviewed by Tunisian police following appeals made at the behest of the family. He said the authorities were satisfied she was not there against her will.

He said he was sent the photograph after posting an appeal for information on Tunisian Facebook groups, from a bartender who knows the ex-pat community well and recognised Melissa, in the Platinum nightclub in El Kantaoui near Sousse.

The Argus understands that embassy staff in Tunisia are satisfied she does not require consular assistance.

In a statement the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) confirmed: “We have offered assistance to a British national in Tunisia.”

But her sister Heidi Everest Gourlay, 36, said: “It’s definitely her and it’s definitely him but we don’t know if it’s an old photo or not.”

She said that Melissa left England on July 6 with rainbow-coloured acrylic nails but is pictured with pink ones, and added: “If you zoom in a lot it looks like her face is bruised and swollen. It looks like there’s a plaster on her eye.”

Both Ms Everest Gourlay, and The Argus, asked for proof of the date on which the photograph was taken but none was forthcoming.

Ms Everest Gourlay added: “For all we know she could be drugged, he could be getting her drunk, and her face looks bruised and swollen. It’s not a photo of her dancing and having a good time is it?”

“There’s a lot of people suffering here and it’s affecting all of us. Her poor kids are going through hell.”

The FCO have insisted that confidentiality rules prevent them from sharing any specifics - including the time or content of interviews which may have been conducted - which have informed their position on the case.

WHY HASN’T SHE SAID TO US ‘I’M FINE, PLEASE STOP WORRYING’?

THE Argus’s story of missing Lancing mother Melissa Everest is causing waves 1,500 miles away where members of the tight-knit ex-pat community in Tunisia have been trying, just like those at home, to get to the bottom of the mystery.

As appeals for information grew in the aftermath of yesterday’s headlines, it was a bartender in a popular resort who knows Melissa who came forward to provide the first fresh information in over a week.

The new photograph, allegedly taken on Thursday night, shows Melissa and her young husband Adem shooting tequila at a popular resort on the Mediterranean coast.

But without any word from the woman at the centre of this worrying affair the family still have deep fears for her safety.

In Lancing, her younger son Nico has left the family home to stay with relatives because the situation is too upsetting and her sister Heidi has been granted compassionate leave from work.

The Foreign Office has sought to reassure the family but claims data protection law prevents it from sharing too many details.

Heidi, 39, said: “It makes me so angry. I’ve had my brother in tears on the phone this morning.

“All we know is that something isn’t right. We deserve some answers.

“They know we’re her immediate family, what’s data protection when it’s making people very ill and very upset and very stressed? There’s a time and a place for data protection and this isn’t it.”

The family insists that it is completely out of character for Melissa simply to drop off the radar in the way that she has since last Wednesday, before she missed her flight home.

Heidi explained: “Why would she be in contact every single day of being out there and then nothing?

“The last time we heard from her was last Wednesday [July 13] the day before she was due to board her flight.

“From what we know of our sister if she wanted to stay there she’d call us. She’d have the balls to say I’m fine, I’m here, tell the kids I love them and I’m okay.

“We’ve never not communicated as a family, we’ve never let each other worry.”

Heidi stressed that the new photograph raises as many questions as it does answers, pointing out that there is no proof it was taken on Thursday and that Melissa does not appear to be happily dancing.

She is concerned that the low-quality photograph might even show bruising or swelling on her sister’s face.

Heidi told The Argus: “Why hasn’t she said to us I’m fine, please stop worrying? It’s all very well people sending pictures but we don’t know what’s going on.”

Melissa met 23-year-old Adem Brins Harrabi in Tunisia in the summer of 2014 while on holiday with her sons Ethan and Nico following the break-up of a previous marriage.

Upon returning home she told family and friends: “I’ve met someone.”

Their whirlwind romance led to a wedding in Tunisia in August 2015 but shortly afterwards things turned sour.

Donella Colchester-Stone, who has known Melissa since they attended Shandy stage school in Hove together, used to live in Tunisia and she and Melissa reconnected to share stories of life abroad.

Just three months after getting married, Melissa told Donella that her relationship with Adem was over, describing him as a “love rat” who had been seeing another English woman behind her back.

She messaged Donella to say, “Just glad I found out before we applied for the visa.”

Donella told The Argus: “She was saying she was so happy that the situation was finally over. She used the word controlling and she said he was a nightmare.”

When Melissa’s son Ethan, 16, sent messages to his step-father last week asking to speak to his mother, Adem replied that she was asleep and since then the family have not been able to get any further information from him.

Ethan and his family are destined for more sleepless nights until they finally hear from his mother.