Police swamped as 9000 are reported missing in one year

POLICE are facing a deluge of missing person cases in Lothian and Borders, with more than 9000 incidents reported last year.

The cases ranged from teenagers running away from home to the ongoing search for 88-year-old Mary Ferns, who vanished from her Livingston home more than two weeks ago.

The vast majority of people are traced or turn up of their own accord within 48 hours, with just a "handful" turning into major long-term investigations.

Police divers have been searching the River Almond this week in search for Mrs Ferns as hopes of a happy outcome fade.

The number of missing person reports has risen dramatically in the last year, up 16 per cent on the previous year.

The cases have added to the workload of the force's operational support unit, at St Leonard's Police Station, which leads missing person inquiries.

Although there is no missing person's unit as such, ten officers in the A division deal specifically with missing people and non-suspicious deaths. Normal shift officers are also capable of stepping up to work on missing person inquiries on a full-time basis.

There a risk assessment is carried out on each missing person, covering issues such as whether they have disappeared before and their ability to fend for themselves. Officers also assess any potential threat the missing person might pose to the public.

Inspector Bryan Rodgers, who specialises in missing person cases, said there was no typical case with the backgrounds of missing people being varied.

"In the course of a year, one person could go missing a number of times, sometimes dozens. They may be undergoing a crisis in their lives and will keep going missing until it works itself out. We may become very familiar with one person going missing repeatedly over a year then it just stops. It often follows a pattern.

"As of right now in Edinburgh, we are dealing with four cases. The vast majority of people turn up in a few hours, a day or 48 hours.

"We do have longer term cases where potential inquiries come to an end for now. But they are never closed. Instead, we review each every six months or whatever time frame is appropriate."

A total of 9169 people were reported missing in the force area between April last year and March, compared to 7870 in the previous year. Around one in ten cases involve either elderly people going missing from care homes or psychiatric patients leaving the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.

Among those on the long-term missing list is Rosemary Whitehead, who was 65 when she went missing from her Portobello home in July 2006. Another case involves ex-George Watson's pupil Alan Templeton, who vanished aged 26 in November 2006 after completing his shift as a barman at Halo in Melville Place.

A Salvation Army spokeswoman said that its Family Tracing Service handles more than 4000 inquiries each year across the UK, with searches taking from as little as two hours to as much as two years.

She added: "The Salvation Army would encourage family members to get in touch with our tracing service.

"At least ten per cent of searches are for brothers and sisters who were separated as children."

Girl vanishes for 40 days in two months
CLAIRE* has spent nearly 40 days in the last two months missing. The 15-year-old vanished again before turning herself into a police station on Wednesday morning after nine days.

Her mother, 43, was left sick with worry after her daughter disappeared again from Oxgangs Young Persons Unit, where she has stayed since January.

The teenager was staying at a friend's house in Wester Hailes as the police searched for her. She said: "I don't want to stay at the home. I want to live back at my mum's house.

"The staff try to talk to me, telling me to make changes and do something. But they don't listen to what I'm saying.

"I usually end up falling asleep at a friend's house and don't go back. Then I just stay out and go back when I feel like it. The police have sometimes found me but I usually go back myself after a few days."

Claire's three brothers, now aged 23, 21 and 19, also spent time in care. She moved to the unit after she proved uncontrollable at home.

She said: "The home has three girls and three boys there. But it's only me and another girl who really go missing."

Her mother, who lives in Saughton, said: "I want her to come and live with me, but she needs to go through a lot of counselling first. I've told her she needs to accept their help as her problems are very deep-rooted."

*Name has been changed.

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