Richard Okorogheye: Police carry out searches in Essex after student’s disappearance
31 March 2021, 20:46 | Updated: 30 April 2021, 10:49
Police investigating the disappearance of London student Richard Okorogheye are conducting searches in Essex after a new confirmed sighting placed him in the area.
The Metropolitan Police has released CCTV images of the 19-year-old in Loughton in the early hours of Tuesday, March 23.
He was captured on CCTV walking alone on Smarts Lane towards Epping Forest at 12.39am.
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Police, including specialist search teams, are looking in and around the forest as well as carrying out door-to-door enquiries.
Mr Okorogheye, a student at Oxford Brookes University, left his family home in the Ladbroke Grove area of west London on the evening of Monday, March 22.
He was reported missing two days later.
His mother has previously revealed he has sickle cell disease and did not take his medication.
Evidence Joel said he had spoken of "struggling to cope" with university pressures and had been shielding during the Covid-19 lockdown.
As someone with sickle cell disease, Mr Okorogheye would only leave the house to go to hospital for regular blood transfusions for his condition.
On the night he went missing, he left his home and headed in the direction of Ladbroke Grove at about 8.30pm.
In a previously confirmed sighting, he was seen boarding the 23 bus southbound in Ladbroke Grove at 8.44pm.
CCTV footage shows he was wearing all black and had a black satchel bag with a white ‘ADIDAS’ logo, worn across his lower back.
Police believe Mr Okorogheye then took a taxi from the W2 area of London to a residential street in Loughton.
Detective Chief Inspector Nicki Beecher, from the Met’s Area West Public Protection Unit, said: “It has now been nine days since Richard was last seen in person and we remain as committed as ever to locating him and bringing him home to his family.
“Latest information suggests he was last seen in Loughton in Essex and we are now focusing our attention here with specialist search officers from across the Met brought in to assist.
“Our enquiries also continue in the Ladbroke Grove, W10 area where local officers have been carrying out search patrols and also community patrols to gather information from local residents.
“I would once again like to renew our appeal to the public for any information which may assist with our enquiries. If you may have seen Richard - particularly in the Loughton area - or have any information at all, please contact police.”
If you have any information, call police on 101 quoting 21MIS008134. In an emergency please call 999.
