:00:14. > :00:26.I love you, Josh, and I miss you. I just want you to come home, Josh.
:00:27. > :00:32.Every day, hundreds of young people go missing in the UK. Nobody can
:00:33. > :00:38.feel the pain you are in, except for people that have been in the same
:00:39. > :00:43.situation. We join the relatives searching for clues. What age was
:00:44. > :00:52.Olivia when you found the letter? 14. 14, and this is a 25-year-old
:00:53. > :00:59.man writing to her. How do you feel when you find that letter? I felt
:01:00. > :01:04.sick to the stomach. We meet the families who have been waiting for
:01:05. > :01:10.years. And this is his blazer? That's the last thing I saw him
:01:11. > :01:15.wearing as he went out the door. And we find out why the police can no
:01:16. > :01:20.longer cope. Do you accept that children are being laughed at risk?
:01:21. > :01:23.I fully accept that. We simply don't have the resources or the capability
:01:24. > :01:43.and capacity to deal with so many missing episodes.
:01:44. > :01:53.Sawley Marina, Leicestershire. Home to hundreds of boats of various
:01:54. > :01:57.shapes and sizes, and home, two, four Josh Cotton. Until one
:01:58. > :02:02.afternoon in March, when the 22-year-old couldn't be found. The
:02:03. > :02:11.barge Josh lived on was locked up and he was,. We are hardly sleeping.
:02:12. > :02:15.Eating is hard enough as well so you are having to force yourself.
:02:16. > :02:25.Parents Mick and Jan have looked everywhere but there's no sign of
:02:26. > :02:29.Josh. What do you think happened? That the Golden question, isn't it?
:02:30. > :02:33.We don't know. We get scenarios going through a head all the time.
:02:34. > :02:40.What if this happened? What if that happened? You just don't know. It is
:02:41. > :02:50.just a waiting game, isn't it? How long has he been missing now? 19
:02:51. > :02:57.days. It gets harder every day. Josh seemed happy. He was known for
:02:58. > :03:05.always having a smile on his face. Last year, he bought a barge and
:03:06. > :03:10.restored it himself. The Spirit was Josh Cotton's pride and joy. It was
:03:11. > :03:20.the first time he had lived in his own home and his family say he loved
:03:21. > :03:24.his independence. 95% of missing people are found within a week. But
:03:25. > :03:30.after that, the chances of you coming to harm increase. The family
:03:31. > :03:37.knows that every minute that passes without good news can only bring bad
:03:38. > :03:42.news closer. It is this not knowing. This is what drives you mad, not
:03:43. > :03:46.knowing. It is ripping our hearts apart, isn't it question mark not
:03:47. > :03:50.knowing, waiting for a phone call or the time. You check the house phone
:03:51. > :03:57.as with your mobile phone, take it to bed, hoping for a phone call
:03:58. > :03:59.overnight. You worry that he is lying dead in a ditch somewhere and
:04:00. > :04:07.you don't know, all these weeks later. It is just horrible.
:04:08. > :04:29.The National Crime Agency says there were more than 200,000 reports of
:04:30. > :04:41.missing people last year. Well over half were about children. That's
:04:42. > :04:47.around 350 kids every day. Are you OK? We understand it's going to be a
:04:48. > :04:53.very worrying time for you. Yes. The first details are often reported
:04:54. > :04:58.here. So since then, no one at all has heard from him? The Missing
:04:59. > :05:04.People Helpline takes 54,000 calls annually. Thanks very much. Will get
:05:05. > :05:08.to work on that straightaway, thanks a lot. Staff say there's always a
:05:09. > :05:13.reason why people walk out on their lives. I've been here for over four
:05:14. > :05:16.years and I have no idea how many hundreds of different people I've
:05:17. > :05:20.spoken to and I've never once had someone said, "I just fancied
:05:21. > :05:24.leaving this morning". There's always a reason. It's never a simple
:05:25. > :05:29.thing to just walk out. It's not an easy thing to leave everything
:05:30. > :05:34.behind you. The reasons people leave are often complex. 16-year-old
:05:35. > :05:39.Olivia Burton Taylor left home in February. Now number 1561, Olivia
:05:40. > :05:46.Burton Taylor on Frosthills Jackaroo.
:05:47. > :05:57.This is Olivia, four years ago, competing in the Horse Of The Year
:05:58. > :06:01.Show. Her mother Louise won the stable yard in Kent. She and Olivia
:06:02. > :06:08.used to be a team. -- runs a stable yard. I would come out here about
:06:09. > :06:11.3am and get the ponies ready and everything and load them all up and
:06:12. > :06:15.I would go and get her. She was still asleep. I would take her and
:06:16. > :06:21.wrap her in a blanket and pop into the bed in the horse and we drive to
:06:22. > :06:26.an half hours, three hours. We had brilliant times together. We were
:06:27. > :06:32.really close. She never wanted to go anywhere without me, ever. And we
:06:33. > :06:45.just did everything together. I just miss her so much.
:06:46. > :06:53.Louise says her world began to fall apart two years ago, when she found
:06:54. > :07:02.a love letter addressed to her little girl from a 25-year-old man,
:07:03. > :07:10.sent from prison. What age was Olivia when you found the letter?
:07:11. > :07:16.14. 14? And this is a 25-year-old man writing to her? How do you feel
:07:17. > :07:21.when you find the letter? I felt sick to the stomach. I just couldn't
:07:22. > :07:27.believe it. It is your little girl, your child. You know, how can a man,
:07:28. > :07:34.possibly, a groan, adult man want anything to do with a little child?
:07:35. > :07:37.Olivia was 15 when she first ran away with convicted criminal Jimmy
:07:38. > :07:43.Connors. They were found after a police chase. Connors was charged
:07:44. > :07:50.with child kidnapping but was found not guilty and Olivia ran away with
:07:51. > :07:53.him again. The next time Louise saw Olivia, she was in hospital,
:07:54. > :08:03.recovering after a serious car crash. She had ruptured her spleen,
:08:04. > :08:10.smashed her arm and she had already had a major five-hour surgery on her
:08:11. > :08:17.arm, with pins and plates. Mother and daughter met but there was no
:08:18. > :08:23.reunion. I tried talking to her. She was just looking through me. It
:08:24. > :08:27.wasn't my little girl. It was like somebody else was there. It was like
:08:28. > :08:42.somebody else. Olivia has since run away twice
:08:43. > :08:47.more. It is not unusual. 39% of people who come home will walk out
:08:48. > :08:54.again. The experts say missing people need much more support when
:08:55. > :08:57.they do return. There's no one necessarily out there that will pick
:08:58. > :09:01.up this vulnerable person and work through with them what going missing
:09:02. > :09:07.has meant, what caused it, what the experience was like and what happens
:09:08. > :09:10.next. All children are supposed to be interviewed by local authorities
:09:11. > :09:20.when they return home. But the service is patchy at best and
:09:21. > :09:22.nonexistent for adults. We need help, guidance, education, public
:09:23. > :09:25.campaigns around missing so that families are better able to talk
:09:26. > :09:31.about those experiences, as people return. It was what we have heard if
:09:32. > :09:41.there is just silence. So we need to do much, much better on point of
:09:42. > :09:46.return. Back at Sawley, the search continues for 22-year-old Josh
:09:47. > :09:50.Cotton. Josh, this is totally out of character for you. You've never left
:09:51. > :09:58.the phone on the boat before. Please get in touch soon. His family make
:09:59. > :10:00.an appeal on Facebook. I love you Josh, and I miss you. I just want
:10:01. > :10:16.you to come home, Josh. His sister Abi has led the family's
:10:17. > :10:18.search. They are getting more worried by the day because they have
:10:19. > :10:26.discovered easy-going Josh was leading a double life. The police
:10:27. > :10:30.have found along the way speaking to neighbours and residents that he's
:10:31. > :10:36.been depressed. He hasn't been to work since December. So there was
:10:37. > :10:40.fictitious Josh's life, bless him, where everything was OK, and then
:10:41. > :10:45.reality, where it truly was in. The family knew none of this? He'd bend
:10:46. > :10:50.out the odd few times I've seen them, said he just felt a bit down.
:10:51. > :10:53.Everyone has down days. But I feel bad because I feel I should have
:10:54. > :11:03.seen something or I feel I should have seen the signs. For him.
:11:04. > :11:11.Divers, a helicopter and dozens of police officers from three forces
:11:12. > :11:17.have been looking for Josh. Searching for missing people is
:11:18. > :11:22.time-consuming and expensive. The police don't know how much they
:11:23. > :11:29.spend each year. But one academic study has come up with a figure.
:11:30. > :11:35.Well we estimated around ?800 million annually is the cost of a
:11:36. > :11:39.missing persons investigation. It's three times more than robberies.
:11:40. > :11:47.It's four times more than burglaries. It's at an incredible
:11:48. > :11:51.cost to the police. Even with as much as ?800 million being spent,
:11:52. > :11:57.police Chief Mike Veale admits they are still overwhelmed by the numbers
:11:58. > :12:00.of missing people. We simply do not have the resources or the capability
:12:01. > :12:04.or capacity to deal with so many missing episodes. It's almost
:12:05. > :12:08.sucking the resilience of the police service at this moment in time. It
:12:09. > :12:10.is shopping, the amount of time that we spend looking for missing people.
:12:11. > :12:22.-- shocking. 152, two Sierra, just confirming
:12:23. > :12:31.there is a missing person reported from the Royal Edinburgh. I am with
:12:32. > :12:33.EE division in Edinburgh. Here, searching for missing people takes
:12:34. > :12:39.up more police time than any other matter. This, the south side of
:12:40. > :12:43.Edinburgh, it's probably one of the busiest places for missing persons.
:12:44. > :12:47.We have two hospitals and they phone us often because patients failed to
:12:48. > :12:52.return or they walk out before they have been seen. On top of that, so
:12:53. > :12:54.many young children's units and their policy is to report kids
:12:55. > :12:58.missing the minute they failed to come back at the time agreed. When
:12:59. > :13:05.it gets reported, it is over to the police, really. Children in care are
:13:06. > :13:13.three times more likely to run away than other kids. Is it difficult? Is
:13:14. > :13:17.it difficult? It's one thing chasing bad guys, it's another thing looking
:13:18. > :13:25.for maybe don't want to be found. Frustrating sometimes, yes. It is
:13:26. > :13:31.the same... We have kids you have been reported 49, 50 times so far
:13:32. > :13:34.this year. I would also like to check the CCTV and search the ground
:13:35. > :13:41.around the hospital, just in case she is still there. Today, there are
:13:42. > :13:47.11 officers on shift at Howden Hall station. Most are out looking for
:13:48. > :13:52.missing people. We have two officers at the hospital looking at CCTV, two
:13:53. > :13:56.going to her home address and another two officers going to the
:13:57. > :14:01.hospital as well to supplement the first two. So six officers involved
:14:02. > :14:06.in one missing case? Two involved in another case which has been
:14:07. > :14:15.resolved. Is this typical? Yes, this is very typical. The night shift
:14:16. > :14:22.gets even busier when vulnerable youngsters are more likely to go
:14:23. > :14:25.missing. Report of a missing person? 15-year-old missing person reported
:14:26. > :14:29.this evening about an hour ago by her mother. She was last seen about
:14:30. > :14:35.9am by her mum, refusing to go to school. I've got SCT going down.
:14:36. > :14:39.This time it is a child from the family home. It's the third time
:14:40. > :14:47.she's gone missing this week. Police expect to find her safe but must
:14:48. > :14:50.treat every report seriously. Despite the fact she has been found
:14:51. > :14:53.safe and well on both occasions so far this week, we can't allow
:14:54. > :14:56.ourselves to become an basin. What we have got is a 15-year-old girl
:14:57. > :15:01.who has been reported missing at this time of night. It is our
:15:02. > :15:07.priority to find safe and well soon as we can and return her home. -- to
:15:08. > :15:11.find her. It is enormously challenging. There is an element of
:15:12. > :15:15.frustration that creeps in. But over and above all that, our primary
:15:16. > :15:22.function is to find these people and get them home. So it may or may not
:15:23. > :15:30.be a long night? It could be a long night for them.
:15:31. > :15:35.Back at the station, the scale of the problem is clear. Every officer
:15:36. > :15:40.on duty is now looking for missing people. Between sleeping tonight and
:15:41. > :15:44.coming back, a further three people have been reported missing in
:15:45. > :15:52.Edinburgh. Two children and one adult. This is a typical night. The
:15:53. > :15:56.15-year-old girl was returned to her family a few hours later. All others
:15:57. > :16:10.who had been missing were also found safe. This is Andrew's bedroom. But
:16:11. > :16:13.some families never get an answer. We have stored all our family photo
:16:14. > :16:20.albums, because we thought, let's have all the nice memories in one
:16:21. > :16:24.room. We have redecorated since he disappeared. We were conscious of
:16:25. > :16:31.doing a cover which we thought he would be comfortable with if he came
:16:32. > :16:35.back. Andrew Gosden was just 14 when he walked away from his home in
:16:36. > :16:41.Doncaster. That was nine years ago, and his family haven't seen him
:16:42. > :16:51.since. And this is his blazer? That was his school blazer. The tyre is
:16:52. > :16:55.there as well. That is what he was wearing the morning he went missing?
:16:56. > :17:02.That was the last thing I saw him wearing as he went out of the door.
:17:03. > :17:10.Andrew was, or is, I wish I knew what tends to speak about him in,
:17:11. > :17:22.very bright, very academically gifted. He was funny, witty. He made
:17:23. > :17:24.me smile all the time. When Andrew's disappearance was discovered, family
:17:25. > :17:30.and friends immediately started searching. People got in their cars,
:17:31. > :17:34.people from the church had a look around the area whilst it was still
:17:35. > :17:39.light. But it soon became apparent that we couldn't find Andrew. When
:17:40. > :17:44.it started to get dark, we went back home and produced a leaflet, which
:17:45. > :17:47.we took out the following day. So you had a leaflet in production
:17:48. > :17:53.within three hours of the alarm being raised? Yes, with his
:17:54. > :17:56.photograph on. Some leaflets were handed out at Doncaster train
:17:57. > :18:00.station. Three days later, they heard from a woman who worked at the
:18:01. > :18:07.ticket office. Andrew had bought a one-way ticket to London. We knew he
:18:08. > :18:13.had gone to King's Cross. We need a platform number, time. We knew he
:18:14. > :18:19.was on his own and that he was safe and well when he reached King's
:18:20. > :18:25.Cross. But the trail quickly ran cold. It took three weeks for the
:18:26. > :18:33.police to track down CCTV images of Andrew at King's Cross. These
:18:34. > :18:40.pictures were taken on Friday the 14th of September, 2007. Andrew
:18:41. > :18:48.exits the station and disappears into the city. It's the last image
:18:49. > :18:56.the family have of their son. It's not the last image I want in a photo
:18:57. > :19:02.album of our Andrew. It's just makes me really sad. Sometimes you look at
:19:03. > :19:16.it and think, what on earth was going on in your head? Where we knew
:19:17. > :19:19.going? What were you thinking about? The shocking truth is that nobody
:19:20. > :19:26.knows exactly how many youngsters go missing each year. Her Majesty is
:19:27. > :19:31.Inspectorate of can be say the police figures are unreliable. It
:19:32. > :19:39.also says that police failings are leaving children who go missing at
:19:40. > :19:42.risk of serious harm. We identified unacceptable inconsistencies in the
:19:43. > :19:48.way that the police service deals with missing children. As a result,
:19:49. > :19:53.children are being left at risk of harm and I are at risk of
:19:54. > :19:56.exploitation, be it sexual expectation, economic or criminal
:19:57. > :20:02.exploitation. This is a very serious issue. Do you accent that right now,
:20:03. > :20:09.children are being left at risk? I fully accept that. That is quite
:20:10. > :20:14.shocking, isn't it? Just to be able to say, we have a problem here. We
:20:15. > :20:17.have got a problem here. My responsibility is to raise the
:20:18. > :20:23.problem up the agenda so that we can have the same responses we are now
:20:24. > :20:30.creating in relation to child sexual exploitation. I want missing people
:20:31. > :20:33.to go up everybody's agenda, not of the police service, but the
:20:34. > :20:50.government agenda and our local authority's agenda.
:20:51. > :20:56.96% of missing people are eventually found safe and well. But sometimes,
:20:57. > :21:04.the search doesn't have a happy ending. Is this the boat you would
:21:05. > :21:10.normally use? This is the fastest boat you can row and still be able
:21:11. > :21:17.to lift a 20 odd stone person straight over the gunwales. George
:21:18. > :21:25.Parsonage has spent a lifetime searching Glasgow's River Clyde for
:21:26. > :21:35.missing people. Can anybody have you taken from the River, do you think?
:21:36. > :21:43.500 or 600. That is an awful lot. It is a lot, but that's a guess. You
:21:44. > :21:49.don't count. What goes through your head when you bring the body to the
:21:50. > :21:55.surface? There is a lot of relief. You have brought closure to the
:21:56. > :22:02.family, and to see the relief on the family's phase is very rewarding.
:22:03. > :22:09.But it can be very sad. George has spent thousands of hours searching
:22:10. > :22:20.over the past 57 years. That is what we use. It's like a very small
:22:21. > :22:23.anchor. It doesn't look much. Today, he's looking for an 18-year-old
:22:24. > :22:29.woman who went missing on Friday night. Saturday morning, we started
:22:30. > :22:33.the search. We searched Saturday, Sunday, Monday and yesterday. Are
:22:34. > :22:40.you confident that she will be found? She will be found. How can
:22:41. > :22:47.you be so sure? The river always gives up its dead. Three weeks
:22:48. > :22:51.later, the river does just this when George recovers the body of
:22:52. > :23:05.teenagers Sarah Goldie, the young woman he was searching for. 300
:23:06. > :23:11.miles south, another river has also given up its secrets. We are on our
:23:12. > :23:15.way to Leicestershire. I have just spoken to the family of Josh Cotton
:23:16. > :23:19.and they are utterly devastated. They told me that last night, they
:23:20. > :23:23.got a call from the police telling them that the body of the man
:23:24. > :23:24.retrieved from the River Trent has been formally identified as that of
:23:25. > :23:36.Josh. This is the spot. Oh, God, is it
:23:37. > :23:54.really? Josh's dad and sister Abi have come
:23:55. > :24:05.to the place his body was found just 48 hours ago. Josh was just in
:24:06. > :24:10.there. The family now believe Josh was unhappy because he was being
:24:11. > :24:22.bullied. Here you are, my little Josh. The police are not treating
:24:23. > :24:26.his drowning as suspicious. Josh, I will read you a card I have done
:24:27. > :24:32.you. " Dearest Josh, can't believe we will never see your face again,
:24:33. > :24:35.or hear your annoying laugh. Gone, but not forgotten. Sleep well,
:24:36. > :24:42.sweetheart. Until we meet again, resting piece, all our love always,
:24:43. > :24:59.Abi, Johnny, Brendan, Harvey and your little smelly moo".
:25:00. > :25:53.Why? Why didn't he speak to somebody? What on earth was so bad?
:25:54. > :25:59.That's all you can think, why? That is going to be the killer question
:26:00. > :26:13.for the rest of our lives. It's a big word. Why? For Josh's family,
:26:14. > :26:16.the search is now over. But nine years after schoolboy Andrew Gosden
:26:17. > :26:25.disappeared, his family still don't know what happened to him. It is the
:26:26. > :26:29.not knowing that is the worst thing, because it just cycles round and
:26:30. > :26:37.round and round your head the whole time, every single day. A new
:26:38. > :26:42.missing strategy is due from the government later this year. It is
:26:43. > :26:45.expected to deal with criticisms of the police, but will also look at
:26:46. > :26:52.the responsibilities of other agencies. The factor of the matter
:26:53. > :26:57.is that the number of episodes of missing is going up year-on-year. So
:26:58. > :27:02.I would say by default, the summary could be that none of us are doing
:27:03. > :27:08.as much as we could do, and we need to work gather to reduce that
:27:09. > :27:13.number. 16-year-old Olivia is thought to be in north-east London,
:27:14. > :27:17.and police are not just looking for her, they have got an arrest warrant
:27:18. > :27:25.for the man she is believed to be with, convicted criminal Jimmy
:27:26. > :27:31.Connors. I'm just living every day, wondering where she is. It's just
:27:32. > :27:37.your worst nightmare. And the worst thing is, you never ever think it
:27:38. > :27:44.will happen to you. It can happen to anyone, absolutely anyone. Even if
:27:45. > :27:48.the police do eventually bring Olivia home, her mum knows she will
:27:49. > :27:57.still have to find a way to persuade her to stay. She will come to her
:27:58. > :28:05.senses, won't she, one-day? Do you think she will, really? Or will she
:28:06. > :28:19.just live a life of misery with that bustard?
:28:20. > :28:30.Sucked a waste of life -- such a waste of life, isn't it?