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Police are appealing for help tracing a student who went missing six days ago after spending the coronavirus pandemic shielding because of his sickle cell disease.
Richard Okorogheye, 19, was last seen on Monday 22 March near the Ladbroke Grove area of west London and friends and family are becoming increasingly concerned for his safety.
His mother Evidence Joel told the MyLondon news website that Richard had recently told her he was “struggling to cope” while studying Business and IT online at Oxford Brookes University.
She also fears he had become depressed after spending so much time at home over the past year. “Richard has never done anything like this. Something has gone wrong,” Ms Joel added.
Friends have used social media to spread appeals for help tracing the teenager, who is described as 6ft tall and slim.
The appeal has been shared thousands of times, including by singer Dua Lipa, photographer Misan Harriman and author Bonnie Greer.
Mr Harriman wrote: “Richard has been shielding for the past 12 months due to the sickle cell disease he suffers with and would normally only leave the house to go to hospital for regular blood transfusions. His mum is incredibly worried and say the police haven’t been helpful. Please share.”
His mother said that Richard told her he was going to visit a friend’s house and would be back later – but he never returned home. None of his friends said they had seen him that night.
He was last seen walking on Kensal Road at 8.40pm on 22 March. According to the social media appeal he was wearing a black top, black tracksuit bottoms and black trainers and carrying a small Adidas bag.
Ms Joel also suggested that the Metropolitan should be doing more to trace Richard, telling MyLondon: “Richard is seen as a low risk but he’s a young adult with a health condition.”
The UK charity Missing People has previously said: “We know that Black people, and people from other ethnic minority groups, are not always getting the response they deserve when they are missing or report someone missing.”
The Metropolitan Police said they would be issuing a full appeal on Sunday night on their website.
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