Two Met Police officers given misconduct notices over ‘failings’ in search for missing teen Richard Okorogheye
TWO police officers have been served misconduct notices over potential failings into the investigation of the disappearance of teenager Richard Okorogheye. Richard, 19, vanished after leaving his family home in Ladbroke Grove, West London, on March 22 this year. The teenager suffered from sickle cell disease and had been shielding during the pandemic before going […]
TWO police officers have been served misconduct notices over potential failings into the investigation of the disappearance of teenager Richard Okorogheye.
Richard, 19, vanished after leaving his family home in Ladbroke Grove, West London, on March 22 this year.
The teenager suffered from sickle cell disease and had been shielding during the pandemic before going missing.
His body was found in a lake in Epping Forest on April 5, with the Metropolitan Police yet to determine the cause of his death.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) have launched an investigation into how the Oxford Brookes University students disappearance was initially handled by police.
Richards’ mother, Evidence Joel, made multiple complaints to the IOPC after explaining that she felt she had not been taken seriously by cops because of her race.
In a statement to Sky News, an IOPC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we have served misconduct notices on two members of Metropolitan Police Service staff.
“There is an indication that they may have failed to pass on new and relevant information relating to Richard Okorogheye to the team responsible for conducting missing person assessments.
“The serving of misconduct notices does not mean that disciplinary proceedings will follow.”
Ms Joel contacted the police the day after her son went missing, but police did not officially record him as a missing person until 8am on March 24.
In a statement issued via her lawyers, Ms Joel said: “It is encouraging to hear that they are doing something because I kept calling and at one point, a police officer told me to stop.
“Whenever I have talked about how I was treated and how slow the police response was, some people could have thought I was exaggerating.
“I know that the investigation is at [the] early stages and I don’t have details of the misconduct proceedings, but this news still provides some vindication of what I said all along about how slow the police were to act.”
Richard was last captured on CCTV walking in the direction of the forest in the early hours of March 23.
The student, who had sickle cell disease, left his home on March 22 and was seen walking in Kensington at around 8.40pm before boarding the 23 bus southbound.
Police said he travelled on a bus through the capital before taking a taxi to Loughton, Essex.
He was then seen on CCTV walking alone along Smarts Lane towards Epping Forest at 12.39am.
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Police search officers, dog units, and specialist divers scoured the area for five days.
The teenager’s body was found approximately two miles from where he was spotted, without his shoes, bag and mobile phone.
Despite an extensive police search of the area, the objects have still not been found.