The police watchdog has launched an investigation into whether race played a part in the Met Police’s handling of Richard Okorogheye’s missing persons case following complaints from his mother.
On the evening of 22 March, Richard Okorogheye, a first-year Business and IT student at Oxford Brookes University, went missing from his family home in Ladbroke Grove, West London.
The following day, Okorogheye’s mother, Evidence Joel, contacted police to report her son as missing. The missing persons case, however, was not recorded until 8 am on 24 March.
Two weeks later, on 5 April, Okorogheye was found dead in Epping Forest, Essex.
It has now been announced that following complaints from Okorogheye’s mother, the police watchdog, also known as the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), will investigate the way the Met handled their initial reports.
Evidence Joel claims the police “did nothing” when she first reported her son as missing.
Ms. Joel alleges that the police reminded her that her son – as a 19-year-old – is an adult, “who could go out and come back whenever he wanted”.
The Met was heavily criticised when reports alleged that the Met would not be able to find him if she could not.
Okorogheye’s mother also claims the police failed to immediately check CCTV, stating, “it isn’t that simple”.
The mother of the 19-year-old also criticised the Met for categorising Richard’s disappearance as low-risk despite having informed officers that he has sickle cell disease and left home without his “medicine, jacket, or money.”
The regional director of the IOPC, Sal Naseem, clarified that the investigation intends to “establish whether the police responded appropriately to the concerns” raised by Ms. Joel regarding her son’s disappearance.
“[The investigation] will examine whether the force appropriately risk-assessed those reports and if the number of resources the Metropolitan Police dedicated to its inquiries were suitable, based on the information known by police and the risks posed.”
He added: “[The inquiry] will also consider whether Richard’s or his mother’s ethnicity played a part in the way the initial reports of his disappearance were handled.”
Criticisms of the Met’s handling of Okorogheye’s disappearance have compared the case to the disappearance of Sarah Everard where the Met police made urgent and frequent appeals to the public.
Nia Thomas
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