A recent report published by the National Crime Agency has revealed that over 10,000 Asians have gone missing in the UK in 2016-17 alone. The report compiled through statistics provided by Police forces of England and Wales has highlighted that Asians comprise 4% of the total number of people who have gone missing in the UK.
Mohamed Ali is one such husband who last saw his wife Fatima on Friday, 12th February 2016 at their Newhaven home in Sussex. The 52-year old Indian woman has gone missing ever since with neither her family nor police being aware of the reasons behind her disappearance.
“We have been married for 37 years now. It was a regular Friday when I reached home at 02:00 in the afternoon. I knew something was wrong when she was not home and I couldn't get in touch with her. I let an hour pass by thinking that she may return, and when she didn't we contacted the police,” said Mohamed.
Whilst the police have opened an investigation into her disappearance, Mohamed says in the last three and a half years, nothing has come up on their radar barring a CCTV Footage with a possible sighting of her, which came to spotlight only last year.
“The CCTV footage, from last summer, has only recently come to light and we are issuing it to see if we can establish whether it is her or not.
“The woman who knew Fatima says she thinks she saw her running for a bus. Extensive enquiries were carried out in the area and CCTV cameras from a nearby bank in North Street captured a woman running for a Brighton and Hove bus just before 6pm on Monday 7 August 2017," said PC Kath Nevill, Sussex Police.
Factors for missing people
According to her husband, Fatima was completely fit and active without any history of mental illness or the family facing any financial troubles. Suicidal thoughts, depressive thoughts, dementia, and relationship breakdowns, child exploitation are some of the common reasons for people to go missing. According to the NCA, most youngsters between the age of 15 and 21 either choose to run away because they feel unhappy or are unsafe in their homes or in care.
Today, apart from Sussex Police, Mohamed is also assisted by the charity 'Missing People' who have actively campaigned for Fatima's return. Missing People is an independent charity in the UK is dedicated to bringing missing children and adults back together with their families. However, in some cases, local police are challenged by limited resources and do not have leads to further investigate and look for these missing people.
“Through our charity, we publicise the information of the missing person in an appeal for people in neighbouring communities to come forward with any information they have on the concerned person. We can then forward this information confidentially to the police and assist them in their investigation.
“Simultaneously, we also directly reach out to the missing person and communicate about our free confidential helpline where they can contact our experts and discuss their problems,” said Paul Joseph, Head of helpline, Missing People.
In November 2018, a 48-year old Paresh Patel’s body was found by police divers near Limekiln Lock close to Abbey Park nearly three weeks after his family had reported him missing from his home in Belgrave.
This report is limited to data cummulated across Wales and England and it is not possible to comment on trends for Northern Ireland or Scotland. But, it states that there has continued to be an increase in the number of missing-related calls received by police in England and Wales, with a substantial increase in the number of missing incidents recorded since 2015/16; 124 more recorded per day with 10,953 Asians recorded missing of the 249,315 in 2016-17.
