Kiwi who disappeared in Sydney linked to other cases

A New Zealand nurse who disappeared from Sydney's north shore in 1980 has been linked to two other missing women, an inquest into her death has heard.

Marion Sanford wrote a letter to her brother Peter in January 1980, saying she had gone to meet friends and would be back at the Cammeray home they shared within a week.

But the 23-year-old, who was working as a prostitute in Kings Cross to pay off her debts, vanished without a trace.

Detective Sergeant Robert George, who has been working on the case since 2008, said her disappearances had been linked with two other women, Linda Davie and Mary Wallace.

"The similarities are the geographical area where they all disappeared along with the ages and general description of the females," he told the inquest at Glebe Coroners Court in Sydney on Monday.

"Linda Davie was of New Zealand background as well."

Ms Davie, 22, was an aspiring model who had moved from New Zealand to live with her boyfriend in 1980.

About 10 weeks after Ms Sanford's disappearance, Ms Davie mailed a letter to her boyfriend saying she was going away for a few days.

She never returned home.

Ms Wallace, also a nurse, disappeared in September 1983.

Ms Sanford's four siblings, some of whom had travelled from New Zealand, were present at the court.

The inquest, before coroner Paul MacMahon, is continuing.

- AAP