24 year-old Owami Davies has been found safe in Hampshire after first going missing almost two months ago.
It’s been a major police operation to find the student nurse, with 50 officers trawling through 50,000 hours of CCTV footage.
Multiple appeals were made by the police and it was a call from a member of the public on the morning of Tuesday 23rd August, the 118th reported sighting, which led to Owami being found.
Questions remain over the police’s handling of the case, such as why Owami was not marked as a missing person on their database when her family reported her missing on the 6th July.
Her disappearance also renewed calls for the need to have a national missing persons database so forces could more easily share information.
The Met said it would now review its investigation along with Essex Police.
Ms Davies, who was studying nursing at King's College London, left her home in Grays, Essex, on 4 July, and was last seen on CCTV in Croydon on 7 July. It’s unclear why she was eventually found in Hampshire so far from her home.
Det Ch Insp Nigel Penney, who led the investigation, said it was "the outcome we were all hoping and praying for".
He added: “She looks in good health, she’s in a place of safety, and not currently in this vulnerable state that we were led to believe she was in at the start of her disappearance.”
It's rare for people to go missing for more than a day and almost three-quarters of them are found within 24 hours, which was why Owami Davies’ disappearance was so unusual.
While her family will be celebrating her safe return, the important question is what has happened to her since she went missing?
Five people were arrested and bailed in connection with her disappearance – two on suspicion of murder and three on suspicion of kidnap, but police said there was no evidence that she had come to harm.
Owami Davies
Family Handout
Owami Davies
Metropolitan Police
