(A five and a half minute read).
Good evening. I have just spent a couple of days compiling another list from the UK Missing Persons Unit site. And I now sit here wondering why I did it.
Of the twelve hundred, (not the exact figure) of unidentified bodies that the unit knows of, five hundred and forty-five are listed on their website for us to look at.
I decided to refine the search and asked for only cases with images to show up. This is the link that gets you there:
https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/case-search/case-search-results
Now, who could this help? I know that it will hopefully be of interest to all those that follow my weekly posts, around thirty to sixty of you. Thank you for your support. But can it help those people that are actively looking for their loved ones and friends?
I guess it can only help these people if a) they manage to find this post and b) they find that what is written in it is a useful signpost for any information they are seeking.
So, I will continue to write with these two groups of people in mind, my present audience, and an audience that is actively seeking news of loved ones and friends.
Having narrowed down the search engine on the site I was presented with two hundred and fifty-two people that had some sort of image included on their profile.
I bought an A4 notebook from Le Carrefour supermarket, one with lines on it so I could compile an easy-to-read chart in it.
I made seven headings on the chart, Ethnicity, Photograph of Face, Photofit of Face, Photographs of Tattoos, Photographs of Clothing, Photographs of Jewellery and a last heading titled, Jumped out at Me. The Jumped out at Me heading was in case something jumped out at me that seemed odd, interesting, or something to go back to.
Of the two hundred and fifty cases, two hundred and fifteen were male, thirty-six were female, and one case was not determined as sadly the case refers to body parts.
Nineteen people were identified as Afro Caribbean, ten as Asian, eleven as Dark European. Six people were identified as Oriental, one hundred and seventy-seven as White European and twenty-nine people’s ethnicity were unknown.
Many people were found in water; out at sea, on beaches, in rivers, lakes and canals. Many people were termed as Vagrants, many people had sadly taken their own lives, and some people had simply died whilst walking, running, or going about their daily lives-but could not be identified.
One gentleman died in a barber’s chair. There is a photograph of his face. He died on 24/02/1979 at a hairdresser on Beadon Road, Hammersmith. He was thought to have been around sixty years old. His case number is 06-020336.
The gentleman out running, (case number 05-016246), collapsed on a street in Brent on 14/08/1991. He had a Yale style key with him. I am presuming, quite possibly, a front door key. You would have thought someone would have found life a little different when a homeowner or lodger never returned home, wouldn’t you? Is there someone out there whose memory could be jogged?
Of the two hundred and fifty-two people mentioned, one hundred and one of these people have a photograph of their face on their profile and a further one hundred and seven have a photofit of their face on their profile.
Fourteen people have photographs of tattoos on their profile, including one gentleman, (case number 10-003468) who has pictures of ten tattoos on him. This gentleman was found at North Acton on 26/06/2010. He was thought to have been between thirty and fifty years old. There is a photofit image of his face.
Several other people have pictures of three, four, five tattoos. As follows, case number 10-001529, this gentleman was described as Oriental. He had collapsed in the street on 01/04/2010 and later died in Lewisham hospital. There is a photograph of him on his profile.
Case number 07-029060. This gentleman was found on 06/06/2005 in a field at Twemlow Green, Crewe, Cheshire. There is a photofit of him too.
Case number 17-000248. This gentleman was found on 07/01/2017 on the foreshore between President Quay and St.Katherine’s Pier on 07/01/2017. Believed to have been between forty-five and fifty-five years old.
And case number 24-006238. A gentleman with a very well-drawn photofit was found in Southampton in a wooded area near the A35 Burgess Road. It looks like he may well have had an army connection and was believed to have been between sixty and seventy-five years old when he was found on 19/04/2024, recently.
There are thirty-nine people who have images of clothing or footwear. Perhaps the most striking to me is case number 06-023864. This young lady, thought to have been between seventeen and twenty-five years old was struck by a vehicle on the A1 near Baldock, Herts on 18/02/1975. She was spoken too an hour earlier and spoke with a foreign accent and was thought to have been heading for London. There is either a very good photofit, or a photograph of her on her profile, also a photograph of the full set of clothes she was wearing at the time.
This young lady’s story is still being meticulously investigated by the charity, Locate International. Here is the link to their work so far:
https://locate.international/appeals/baldock-woman
There are two other profiles on the site with a link to Locate International. They are case numbers 04-011369 and case number 03-001329.
04-011369. A female of Afro Caribbean decent was found dead on 29/10/2004 at Wembley Point, Brent. She was thought to have been between twenty and forty years old and there is a photograph of her on her profile. Extensive investigations have been done by Locate. The link is here:
https://locate.international/appeals/wembley-point-woman
03-001329, This gentleman was found on the banks of the river Avon on 19/05/1996 and was believed to have been between twenty-five and thirty-five years old when he died. On his profile there is a photograph on a photocard that was found with his body. Presumably there is a chance it was not his photocard.
More information about this gentleman can be found on Locate’s website here:
https://locate.international/appeals/clifton-suspension-bridge-man
And onto the Jumped out at Me category. There are two gentleman’s profiles that suggest they may have crossed over to the UK as Migrants. There is a photofit of a dark European gentleman that was found on 23/04/2006, case number 06-022977. He was seen jumping out of a lorry in Boxworth, Cambridgeshire and sadly got caught up in the wheels. There are also photographs of his clothing. The second gentleman thought to have been a Migrant is case number 03-000095. Of dark European decent and perhaps between seventeen and thirty years old this gentleman was struck by a vehicle after falling from a lorry on the M40 at Great Milton. The date was 26/01/2000.
There are seven people who have some sort of name associated to them but presumably have still not been correctly identified.
Case number 06-022598. A female of Afro Caribbean decent with a photofit gave her name as Mari Kofi. She said she was forty-seven years old and was born on 27/04/1957 and was from Ghana. She was found outside St.Helier hospital, Sutton and died shortly afterwards. (I shall ask if there are any updates on this lady’s identity).
“Charlie”, case number 05-018913. Charlie died whilst visiting a friend in Ealing on 12/12/1982. There is a photograph of his face on his profile. He was thought to have come from Shepherds Bush in London.
“Tom”, case number 05-017618, again with a photograph of his face. Tom was found in a sleeping bag at the corner of Trafalgar square. He had died of a heart attack on 24/01/1990 and was thought to have been aged between fifty and sixty years old.
There is a photograph of a gentleman who had died whilst sleeping rough on Hampstead Heath on 17/02/1994. He is thought to have been between forty and fifty years old. His case number is 05-015765. Amongst his possessions was a birthday card which said, “To Pat, from Jeff”.
Case number 03-003977. There is a photograph on this gentleman’s profile who was found dead at Deptford Broadway, Lewisham on 10/02/1986. Believed to have been around fifty-six years old. His name may have been “George Powell”. (I shall follow this up too).
Case number 06-025965 sees a photofit of a gentleman whose name may have been “Christopher Oliver” from the USA. (I shall follow this up too). He was found at Wark Forest, Northumberland 02/02/1990 and was believed to be dark European ethnicity and between twenty and forty years old.
A photofit of an Asian gentleman found on 06/10/1983 gave his name the day before as being “Ali Hussain Levi”. He was being treated for a head wound the day before he was found dead in the Kensington and Chelsea area of London. He was thought to have been between forty and fifty years of age.
There are several more Jumped out at Me cases to mention, but not in this post. There are several images connected to my French Connections post and there are several images connected to my Fifteen Plus One post, but I think there is enough in the above to give most people something to think about.
I think I need to build a better bridge between these stories, and those looking for information about their loved ones and friends. Perhaps a website called www.unidentifiedormissing.com or www.unidentified.com or www.unidentifiedandmissing.com or just a book or an article about the subject.
Whichever, I think I will have something sorted in the next few weeks, maybe not a book though.
I hope some of the above is useful to someone.