Pain of TV presenter Charlie over her missing mother

Celebrity gardener Charlie Dimmock was today told that a search for her mother and stepfather, missing in the tsunami disaster, would be futile.

The Ground Force presenter, 38, had been desperate to fly out to Thailand to try to find the couple who were in Phuket when the huge waves struck 10 days ago. Nothing has been heard from them since.

However, the Foreign Office advised her not to travel, saying she would not be able to offer any useful help. Dimmock is said to be " inconsolable" since being told that her mother, Sue Kennedy, and stepfather, Rob Kennedy, had probably died.

Her father, Terry Dimmock, said: "She is not coping well, as you would expect from someone who fears they have lost their mother."

Mr Dimmock, who split from his wife 22 years ago but has remained friendly with her, added: "Charlie is worried sick. We have not heard any news at all about Sue and Rob.

"Charlie had intended to fly out to Thailand but she has stayed here because the Foreign Office advised her a search would be futile," he told The Sun today.

A friend of the TV star said: "She has been told Sue and Rob are missing, feared dead. She is desperately waiting for news and is inconsolable. She is being comforted by friends."

A spokeswoman for Dimmock, who lives in Romsey, Hampshire, added: "Charlie's family have not been heard of since Boxing Day."

Mrs Kennedy, 59, a PR executive, and her husband, 60, had flown out to Cambodia on 17 December and were going to travel around the region, said a friend who agreed to look after the couple's dog while they were on holiday. The couple, of West Wellow, Hampshire, had been due home on Saturday. A neighbour said: "They went to Cambodia before Thailand. Had they stayed there they would have been OK."

Mrs Kennedy made headlines in 1999 after posing nude in a charity calendar. Dimmock has described her as "a real Sixties hippy" who inspired her love of gardening.

Meanwhile, a mother who lost her civil servant husband and three children-in the tsunami told how she looked on helplessly as they were swept away

Distraught Nim Hoy, 40, said: "I have got nothing left. It has all gone."

Her husband, John Hoy, was carried off with Robert, 12, David, nine, and Kate, seven, when the waves crashed into the Thai resort of Khao Lak.

Mrs Hoy drifted on to safe ground further inland. The bodies of the two younger children were recovered but David and his father are still missingfeared dead. Mr Hoy was a Bangkok-based senior economics adviser with the Department for International Development.

Mrs Hoy said: "Why was my life spared? I don't know why I survived. I should have gone with them."

The family were playing in the sand and Mr Hoy wandered down to the sea to wash his hands before noticing the water had been sucked out.

Mrs Hoy said: "He started following it out to sea. Then I heard someone-shout that there was an earthquake in Phuket that morning. I called them back but John was still looking. I said, 'Don't look,' and we all ran about 100 metres from the beach.

"I said to them, 'Shall we move on to the roof ?' As soon as I spoke, the water washed me away and I just saw John and the children looking at me.

"Then we were separated... I struggled with the water until it stopped. I shouted but there was no answer."