Richard Okorogheye

IT will never be clear why a student drowned in a pond in Essex, a coroner said this week as he ruled that the teenager died from natural causes.

Richard Okorogheye – he has recently been named as Richard Christian – was found in Wake Valley Pond in Epping Forest on April 5 2021.

The 19-year-old had gone missing two weeks earlier from his home in Maida Vale when his mother, Evidence Joel, had immediately urged the police to launch a search as he had sickle cell disease and did not have his medication with him.

The Metropolitan Police Service later issued an official apology as he was not officially recorded missing for three days after Ms Joel, a nurse, rang the police.

Evidence Joel: complained of ‘biases in the system’

Ms Joel had questioned whether the sloppy response to her pleas for help were racially motivated and had campaigned on national television shows and in the media against “biases in the system”.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct said the service had fallen below the levels expected of the police but there was no disciplinary action against the officers involved in the case.

The BBC reported that on the night of his death Mr Okorogheye paid a sex worker £300 for two one-hour sessions and was in good spirits at the time.

A coroner at Essex Coroner’s Court this week said: “We will sadly never know why he was in Epping and why he walked to that destination.”

After the hearing, Westminster top police chief, Superintendent Louise Puddefoot, said: “We have previously apologised to Richard’s family for the level of investigation provided in the days following his disappearance.

“We know the added pain this has caused them and I apologise again today.

“However, we do accept that the service we provided after Richard was initially reported missing was not at a level the public would expect of us.”