Richard Okorogheye

On March 22, 2021, 19-year-old Richard Okorogheye disappeared in London. After leaving the house, the teenager did not take any pills, or a jacket, or money with him. Richard suffered from sickle cell disease and was mentally difficult to endure quarantine measures against the coronavirus. The mother was convinced that her son had been away for a short time, therefore, a day after the loss, she turned to the police, describing the situation in detail.

According to Okorogheye’s mother, the police did not take the matter seriously and only started searching for the body a few days later. On April 5, 2021, police found a body in a forest pond that matched Okorogheye’s description. Some time later, the body was identified and Richard’s death was confirmed. No traces of violence were found on the teenager’s body.

Okorogheye’s mother and the public believe that if the police had not been negligent due to racism, the teenager could have been found before his death.

In July 2021, the police watchdog (Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has issued misconduct notices to two Met Police staff over the way a student’s disappearance was handled. The IOPC explained that the serving of misconduct notices did not mean that disciplinary proceedings would follow.

In September 2021 the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has started an investigation complaints about how officers handled reports Richard Okorogheye was missing.

At the end of October 2021, the mother of 19-year-old Richard Okorogheye, who died due to the negligence of representatives of the police Department of London, Great Britain, after the frequent cases of black disappearances, called for a public investigation of how the police respond to such reports. She believes that the time has come to make serious changes in the work of law enforcement agencies in relation to the black community.