The secret helpers trying to find Brits who go missing every 90 seconds

Around 170,000 people go missing in the UK every year but public appeals are not always the best way to find them – which is where Missing People’s ‘secret helpers’ come in

One person goes missing every 90 seconds in the UK, but a secret network of helpers is working to help bring them home for Christmas.

Mums, dads, brothers, sisters, grandparents and children – 170,000 people go missing in the UK every year but for those who are escaping domestic abuse or perhaps suffering with their mental health, a public appeal may not be the best way to make sure they’re safe.

This Christmas, the Mirror is supporting the Missing People charity which relies on a 2,000 strong network of organisations across the UK who are part of its Safeguarding Briefing Network also known as ‘secret helpers’.

Operating across libraries, soup kitchens, and places of worship, these secret helpers have been able to reunite missing people with loved ones. Just last week, they found a missing person at a library within half an hour.

Glaswegian comedian Martha McBrier, who also works as a helplines manager at Missing People, tells the Mirror that this network of kind people are often at places like libraries, soup kitchens and places of worship which can prove to be a lifeline to people in need.

“These public facing organisations are the types of services that a missing person might use,” she tells The Mirror.

“Last week we distributed our safeguarding briefing to a library and within half an hour, one of our helpers called us to tell us a missing person was there.

“We were able to call the police, do the welfare checks to make sure they were OK and close the missing case. Libraries are wonderful; they do so much for the community.”

And it’s not just libraries, soup kitchens and places of worship that have signed up to help the charity, staff at health drop-in centres, bus and rail stations, shopping centres, London Search and Rescue, the Royal Mail and street pastors are all lending a helping hand too.

“When it works, it works absolutely beautifully,” Martha says. “We send a briefing to an organisation if they’re in a locale that that person might be in and we issue them with guidance on what to do if they get the chance to engage with that missing person.”

For people who are struggling with their mental health, it can come as a huge surprise to them that their families are worried about where they are.

“Sometimes a missing person will say ‘I didn’t think anyone cared enough to report me missing,’” Martha sighs. “One young man said that recently, and we talked to him and made him realise people do care.”

So how does the charity recruit its network of secret helpers who sign up to its Safeguarding Briefing Network?

“We send a briefing to an organisation if they’re in a locale that that person might be in,” Martha says. “If they see that missing person there’s guidance on what to do if they get the chance to engage with them and they can call us or the police.

“Our helpers are people who might have even experienced someone going missing in their own lives. They keep an eye out and one of the best things they can do is call us or the police so we can get vulnerable help and make sure they’re safe.

“Individuals can join our network too and keep an eye out for a missing person, they can sign up via our website.”

London Search and Rescue is one organisation that is signed up to the charity’s Safeguarding Briefing Network. Senior Team Leader James Walker explains how it works: “We receive covert live updates regarding vulnerable individuals across London.

“This gives our Search Managers heightened awareness of live missing people cases, providing valuable insights in their regular engagement with the police and other emergency services.

“This allows more proactive engagement with those key partners and greater operational readiness within the team in the event we are deployed by the police to search for that particular missing person.

“Search Managers can also share those briefings with our Search Technicians who have extensive training on missing person behaviours, clue consciousness and search techniques.

“This means they are well-equipped to identify the individual should they cross-paths with them in the course of their daily lives, particularly if living or working in that local community within London, and take action to help safeguard that individual.”

You can find out more about the Missing People Safeguarding Briefing Partner network on their website.