Found Safe UK - Lewis Pearce, 19, last seen at Southampton Railway Station, 31 Jul 2021

[StillDiggin]

Can you help us find a missing man from Basingstoke?

Lewis Pearce, 19, was last seen getting on a train at Southampton Central railway station around 7.25pm on Saturday 31 July.

Since he was reported as missing, we have been making extensive enquiries to locate Lewis and we are now turning to the public for your assistance.

We and his family are extremely concerned for his welfare.

When he arrived at the railway station, Lewis was seen talking to two blonde women outside and then again on the train.

Lewis is described as being white, of slim build and with a shaved head. He was last seen wearing a grey tracksuit, grey coat with fur around the collar, a red and black rucksack and a long, thin gold chain.

Lewis was last seen getting on a train to Poole and could have alighted at the next stop and remained in Southampton, or any further stops on the route through the New Forest and into Dorset.

We are keen to speak with anyone who may have seen Lewis, particularly the two women who saw him at the station.

Anyone with information should call 101, quoting 44210306208.
Hampshire Constabulary

 

[StillDiggin]

It seams like there was a family incident at home which is Basingstoke. At the time Lewis who is vulnerable was in Southampton and it looks like police put Lewis on the wrong train and he ended up in East London, Waterloo.
We have CCTV uploaded from the police.
Officers searching for missing Lewis Pearce have today released a further CCTV image of him.

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The image is from a camera at London Waterloo railway station, and was captured just after 11pm on Sunday 1 August.

As you can see, Lewis, 19, is still wearing the same grey tracksuit and coat in this image as in a previously released image.

He is also walking with a woman.

Lewis has been missing since getting on a train to Poole at Southampton Central railway station around 7.25pm on Saturday 31 July.

When he arrived at the railway station, Lewis was seen talking to two blonde women outside and then again on the train.

If you have seen Lewis or have any information about his whereabouts, then please call 101, quoting the reference 44210306208.

We also want to identify and speak with the woman in this photo, as she may hold important information that could help us find Lewis.

If you wish, you can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

 

[Catdetective]

Trying to get my head around this one as the circumstances and locations are quite confusing.

Is it that he was in Southampton and then the police tried to put him on a train back to Basingstoke but accidently put him on the direct train to Waterloo (same train line as the Basingstoke train). Where does Poole come into it? Or was that an error in the original police appeal?

 

[JuicyLucy]

Yes, very confusing. Piecing things together from MSM and SM, I think it's that police put him on a train to Poole in error instead of a train to Basingstoke, where his family is. He himself lives in Southampton ordinarily. That was on Saturday 31 July. It's not clear when he got off that train, but somehow - under his own steam - he ended up at London Waterloo on Sunday 1 August at ~11pm. Then what happened to him is unknown. So it's to be hoped the Met have now taken over his case, because he would seem to be in London somewhere.

I can't find any explanation of in what way he's vulnerable. Not to pry, but it might have a bearing on what kind of place he's likely to head for and what sort of thing might therefore have happened to him. If he's vulnerable and has been missing for two weeks, a higher profile campaign to find him would be appropriate imo.

Hampshire man missing for almost two weeks shown in new CCTV footage

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

Yes, very confusing. Piecing things together from MSM and SM, I think it's that police put him on a train to Poole in error instead of a train to Basingstoke, where his family is. He himself lives in Southampton ordinarily. That was on Saturday 31 July. It's not clear when he got off that rain..

Why do you surmise that?

By all accounts police put him on wrong train at Southampton going to Waterloo - which is where he then appeared on CCTV, as @StillDiggin posted above.

The Southampton to Poole train goes in the opposite direction to Waterloo.

There is a 9.30pm Saturday train to Waterloo and a 10pm. The Poole train leaves 51 minutes past the hour. Looks as has been stated, police messed up with wrong train.

 

[JuicyLucy]

Why do you surmise that?

By all accounts police put him on wrong train at Southampton going to Waterloo - which is where he then appeared on CCTV, as @StillDiggin posted above.

The police update issued yesterday is very clear about the fact that he left Southampton on a train to Poole. There has been ample time to correct that information if appropriate, so I surmise that it is not incorrect.

https://www.hampshire.police.uk/new...-released-in-search-for-missing-lewis-pearce/

It would also have to be a very slow train indeed to have left Southampton at 7.25pm on Saturday and arrived at Waterloo at 11pm on Sunday.

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

Because as in the post of StillDiggin's there is discrepancy in the accounts by police and family, not only in train times but locations.

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

Comments from aunt - and other family members - on Hampshire Police link appears, as Still Diggin and I posted above to confirm:

a) never on any train to Poole
b) not on a train at 7.30pm as still at family home in Southampton at that time
c) police inadvertently put him on direct train to Waterloo
d) he lives in Basingstoke, not Poole or Southampton

Hampshire Constabulary

 

[infinit]

So they put him on the wrong train and then can't even get the train right in the appeal? Shocking.

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

So they put him on the wrong train and then can't even get the train right in the appeal? Shocking.

You would think they'd issue a statement with the correct facts wouldn't you? If they are indeed at fault and this young man is found to have come to some harm, I foresee a court case ahead.

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

From what a family member has said on above police link, the CCTV showed it wasn't Lewis withdrawing money from the cash machine on his card.

Doesn't feel good at all. Apart from sounding like one massive *advertiser censored*-up with disinformation, with a vulnerable person like this he is open to being easy prey.

 

[LadyL]

From what a family member has said on above police link, the CCTV showed it wasn't Lewis withdrawing money from the cash machine on his card.

Doesn't feel good at all. Apart from sounding like one massive *advertiser censored*-up with disinformation, with a vulnerable person like this he is open to being easy prey.

[bbm]

oh no ... my heart just sank

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

[bbm]

oh no ... my heart just sank

Really is a shambles this case, isn't it? Police are either - according to all his family at least - giving out wrong information, or saying nothing at all. There is hardly any media bar police Facebook. No updates on CCTV. If this is a vulnerable person, all stops should be out. Valuable time has been lost in the confusion of this whole reporting of he's in Southampton... no, he's not, he's in Poole... er, no, now in London.

 

[Normal Norm]

Really is a shambles this case, isn't it? Police are either - according to all his family at least - giving out wrong information, or saying nothing at all. There is hardly any media bar police Facebook. No updates on CCTV. If this is a vulnerable person, all stops should be out. Valuable time has been lost in the confusion of this whole reporting of he's in Southampton... no, he's not, he's in Poole... er, no, now in London.

Shambles is the word. Whilst I'm not convinced of everything that is coming from the family side (for reasons I can't quite explain), the silence from the Police is deafening. I suspect the Chief Constable and their own legal team are pondering their next move, if indeed the Police DID put him on the wrong train. I still don't understand why the Police were involved in the first place - they escorted him and put him on a train because he had an appointment in Basingstoke?! It's all a bit, well, strange.

I wish the CCTV of Lewis and the mystery woman at Waterloo was moving footage - it is so much more revealing than a still image.

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

The father, Alex - again, refer previous police links - says card was used in a food & wine shop in South Lambeth Road, SW8, over a week ago. Presumably the Stratford usage was later? S Lambeth Road is in vicinity of Waterloo, south of Thames, so right-ish area. Stratford... not so much.

There was a reference to an 'incident' at home in Soton and probably why police were called, who may have said 'Come on, lad, let's get you back home, we'll drop you off at the station'. They did that, and if perhaps LP was a little drunk, tired or not concentrating, and police said train will be leaving at X time and then left him, could see why he may head to wrong platform if two trains were in at same time.

 

[spangled]

Very confusing and worrying. Being in London especially so and it sounds like he may not have any access to his money. It would be good to know why he is considered vulnerable and what the incident was that involved him being put on the train. Could he be deliberately avoiding family?

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

2 weeks now.

 

[pokerowan]

I've done this journey before, so I looked up the actual train times for Saturday the 31st of July. If he truly did leave at half past, then LP was either on the 2030 (arrived 2148) or 2130 (arrived 2248).

These are both fast trains which take around 1h20m, instead of the service with more stops which takes 2hrs.

 

[JuicyLucy]

I've done this journey before, so I looked up the actual train times for Saturday the 31st of July. If he truly did leave at half past, then LP was either on the 2030 (arrived 2148) or 2130 (arrived 2248).

These are both fast trains which take around 1h20m, instead of the service with more stops which takes 2hrs.

But the CCTV footage of him on the platform at Waterloo is from just after 11pm on Sunday 1 August. So are people thinking he hung out at Waterloo Station for 24 hours? Because that doesn't really make sense to me. I think it's far more likely he left Southampton on a more local train, slept in an unknown location on Saturday night and then got on a Waterloo train at some point during Sunday - perhaps thinking it would take him to his original destination of Basingstoke.

JMO

Hampshire man missing for almost two weeks shown in new CCTV footage

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

I think it's far more likely he left Southampton on a more local train, slept in an unknown location on Saturday night and then got on a Waterloo train at some point during Sunday

Except he allegedly had no money to get train tickets...

...it also begs the question of how he got through the barrier at Waterloo at any time since whatever ticket he was in possession of would not have been valid, ie if Southampton to Basingstoke or from X station to Basingstoke.

The family insist the train he got out of Southampton was around 9.30pm or shortly after.

....


Okay, revised scenario.

He wasn't seen at Waterloo on Saturday night presumably as we only have CCTV from the following night. So why do police believe that is where he alighted?

Have police checked CCTV at Clapham Junction?

If police put him on the 10pm train from Southampton to Basingstoke correctly as they state, could he have fallen asleep and missed getting off at 10.41pm when the train stopped there, and instead ended up at Clapham Junction at 11.20pm where the train terminated?