The Leicestershire people who simply vanish without a trace
Latest figures reveal thousands of missing incidents reported in Leicestershire between 2019 and 2020
Richard AultChief Feature Writer
Asha Patel
In 2006, 26-year-old Leicestershire mum Malgorzata Wnuczek went missing.
It has now been 15 years since she was last seen by her daughter.
Gosia, as she was affectionately known by her family is one of many people still missing in Leicestershire.
She had caught a bus from her workplace at Peter Jackson Logistics in Sunningdale Road in Leicester into the city centre.
There have been no sightings of her since May 31 that year.
Gosia's daughter, Ola, was just three years old when she vanished and would have recently turned 18-years-old.
Grzegorz Witkowski, also from Leicester, has not been seen since 2009 when he went missing before Christmas, aged 47. He would now be 58-years-old.
Jane Linzey, of Walcote, went missing on July 19, 2012, aged 71, and would now be 79-years-old.
Jane Linzey
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Tuan Van Nguyen, of Leicester, has not been seen since February 10 of this year.
Since they vanished, numerous appeals for information about these four individuals have been issued and they are all listed on the independent website, Missing People.
They also show the human face behind figures that reveal 1,056 children and 1,385 adults went missing from across Leicestershire in 2019/20 alone.
Malgorzata Wnuczek (Image: Missing People)
According to the latest figures available from the National Crime Agency (NCA), many of those individuals went missing on numerous occasions.
In fact, those 1,056 children were responsible for 3,132 "missing incidents", which is the equivalent of each child vanishing or running away on three occasions.
Among adults, there were a total of 1,732 missing incidents, which equates to 1.3 for each individual.
In total, 2,441 people went missing on a total of 4,864 occasions in 2019/20 which is slightly less than the previous year when 2,462 individuals were reported missing to Leicestershire Police on 5,056 occasions.
Almost two-thirds of the missing incidents from 2019/20 (64.4 per cent) involved children. More than half of all missing incidents (54.7 per cent) related to the disappearance of males, while 41 per cent were of females. Ten missing incidents involved transgender people, and the rest were "unknown".
People from the White ethnic group made up almost six out of 10 missing incidents (59.5 per cent) in Leicestershire.
Of the rest, 11.2 per cent were Black, 9.5 per cent Asian, 0.8 per cent Middle Eastern, 0.1 per cent Chinese, Japanese or South-Eastern Asian, and 18.8. per cent were unknown.
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A total of 151 missing incidents reported to Leicestershire Police involved mental health issues.
In the vast majority of cases, the missing individual was either found or returned.
Most of the children who went missing in Leicestershire were either found by police (29 per cent) or returned of their own free will (27.7 per cent), while 16 per cent were found by family, foster carers and guardians.
Adults were far more likely to be found according to the figures which showed that almost half (49.9 per cent) were tracked down by police officers.
Sadly, not everyone returned home safely and unharmed.
'While the vast majority of people who go missing do return, many will go missing again...'
Some 86 children and 135 adults suffered some form of harm during their missing ordeal. Ten children were victims of a sexual offence, 30 self-harmed, 34 suffered a physical injury, six suffered emotional harm, and six were hurt by accident.
Among the adults, 72 self-harmed, 42 suffered a physical injury, eight were hurt by accident, 10 suffered emotional harm, and three were victims of a sexual offence.
There were 15 fatalities among the missing persons lists for 2019/20, including one child who lost their life.
But the figures also include eight children and two adults who were reported missing during the year but had still not been found as of March 31, 2020.
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Nationally, there were 154,928 missing individuals reported in 2019/20, including 65,800 children and 325,171 missing incidents, of which 61.2 per cent involved children. In the previous year, there were slightly more missing persons (157,052), but fewer missing incidents (319,544).
A spokesperson for Missing People said: "The NCA statistics continue to show that a high number of people are going missing in the UK: someone will be reported missing every 90 seconds.
"Many of those who go missing will be experiencing crisis or harm, including mental health crisis, exploitation, being unsafe or unhappy where they live, and a whole range of other things.
"And while the vast majority of people who go missing do return, many will go missing again because they are unable to access support on return.
"This is particularly the case for missing adults, who will not, as standard, be offered help when they return.
"At Missing People we think that every missing episode should be recognised as a sign that something isn't going quite right for that person, and that return from missing should be taken as an opportunity to support them."
Missing People believe that the lockdown and Covid-19 have put extra pressure on people already experiencing crises, including people with mental health issues, and young people in residential care.
The charity has raised concerns that lockdown and the pandemic may still have an impact on the numbers of people going missing - and on people's ability to access help and support.
For help, advice or support or to pass on information about a missing person, call or text Missing People, confidentially, on 116 000 or email 116000@missingpeople.org.uk. Calls and texts are free thanks to support from players of People's Postcode Lottery.
For further help and information or to donate, with the website www.missingpeople.org.uk.
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