Reported Missing: Worried police search for missing student feared 'radicalised' by Sheffield church

Officers were called by the man’s parents after he mysteriously vanished after checking out of his halls of residence in the city, with concerns he was prone to erratic behaviour, and fears he was being exploited. The investigation ran for over a month.

The story was told in the second episode of the BBC show Reported Missing, as the student’s parents told police: “My husband and I are both concerned about my son. Yesterday, he checked out of his halls of residence. He went to hand his keys in at reception, and then disappeared. He’s very vulnerable, he suffers from anxiety, and when he experiences the anxiety his behaviour is not normal. Just not himself. We would like to report him missing.”

Fellow students said he had changed and had been talking about a church. They said his behaviour changed drastically and were quite frightened of him. Police were told the church had told him to keep his phone switched off and not contact his family, and that Covid was ‘all in the mind’.

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His parents told police they believed he was being ‘radicalised’ by the church he was involved with. Officers said there was nothing wrong with having a passion for a particular church, but no one knew what or where the church was. They were worried if he was missing, and being told to abandon family and friends and just belong to the faith.

Some 40 hours later, he was spotted by university security, and after assessment, placed on a mental health ward in West Yorkshire. Four weeks later he went missing from there, with medics concerned he was receiving texts telling him not to take his medication. He was spotted again in Sheffield two weeks later.

Police found the church, but after not getting any information escalated the case to ‘high risk’, with Inspector Chris Milnes concerned about possible exploitation. It opened up powers to examine phone and email details, and bank details. But the case was finally closed after the student was seen at Sheffield University Health Centre on Gell Street. He left without seeing police, but the doctor he saw said he ‘had capacity’ and was not concerned he was going to harm himself. She said he wanted to receive mental health help and was willing to do that on a voluntary basis.

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Insp Milnes said: “You want to find them, and you want to have that interaction with them, however this case with the student was quite unique. Once we’d physically located him, either us or a partner agency, it provides us with that information that they’re no longer missing, and it doesn’t really warrant a police response anymore. Ongoing concerns were around his vulnerability and the possible exploitation in terms of the association with the church.

“However, the student is an adult. With new information from the doctor around his mental health, we have to then go back to respecting that individual’s privacy. In terms of the student having contact with family, we are only able to really tell them that he is alive and he’s safe and well so his family can be reassured that he’s all right.”