Found Safe UK - Antonino Coppola, 23, from Richmond, Surrey, missing from Bow, East London, 16 Sep 2021

[Officer Dibble]

This article posted 6 hours ago says "It is believed he got off the train...."
Concern growing for man last seen at Bow Road station

 

[AcbMurders]

The desperate mother of a missing 23-year-old said she feels she's "dying inside" since her son disappeared four days ago.

Antonino Coppola, 23, has been missing since September 16 in a disappearance that his family said is "out of character".

Antonino, who was supposed to start his new waitering job today, was on the tube with a friend when he reported having a stomach pain and had to get off.

CCTV footage shows Antonino, who has been in London for almost three years, exiting Bow Road tube station in east London in search for a bathroom.

His friend, who was new to London and relied on Antonino's guidance to get around, waited for him at the station but he never returned.

Family and friends of the former assistant manager from Positano, Italy, have become increasingly concerned over his welfare as he hasn't been seen since.

His mum, Maria Russo, told the Mirror she hopes her son is found "as soon as possible" as she pleaded with anyone who may have information to come forward and assist police with their inquiries.

"I am worried to death. I am speaking now for my son's sake as we need to find him, but I can't even talk to other people about it because of how much it hurts, I feel like I'm dying."

Mrs Russo said her son's behaviour is odd as they always had a very "honest" relationship which meant she was informed about his whereabouts.

"He used to call me even twice a day, he is really affectionate, and he would never have left his friend alone at the station with his suitcase knowing that he didn't know where he had to go."

Mum's desperate plea to find son, 23, who vanished after getting off London tube

The Mirror article also mentions his tattoos:

“He has different tattoos on him, including Homer Simpson on his left thigh, one of the Lion King on an ankle and his birthplace, Positano, on his other one.

He also has a world tattoed on his arm and was wearing his grandparents' wedding ring when he went missing.”

 

[catchingdelivery]

I'm interested in how a 23 year old Italian is living in Richmond, Surrey - its quite an expensive area IMO. I'd like to know if he was staying with friends, or working and renting or a student.

This article shows a selfie of Antonino with the caption underneath 'Antonino 'loved London' and was supposed to start his new waitering job today'

Mum's desperate plea to find son, 23, who vanished after getting off London tube

 

[SaintGertrude]

There was a situation in Brighton a few Months ago where a guy felt ill in broad daylight. He wandered around probably disorientated then may have gone to call at a flat for help. It was a basement flat and the guy collapsed and died to be found a few days later. I would imagine Antonio also collapsed somewhere and is yet to be found or had some kind of clot and has lost his memory.

 

[SaintGertrude]

In these stations there are often hidden doors and underground tunnels. I seem to recall that there is even a hidden network of old tunnels so will have a look on urban explorers sites just in case he went to find somewhere to go to the tilet has got lost down a maze. Haunting photographs show derelict London underground stations | Daily Mail Online

 

[JuicyLucy]

Thanks for signposting to this @Officer Dibble. I've been looking at CCTV images while I eat lunch.

The area isn't well covered unfortunately. There is one traffic camera over the road from the tube station, at the junction with Alfred Street. It points west down Bow Road, so doesn't cover the tube station directly, which is a shame. The northside pavement is also obscured by tree foliage, so if he turned right (east) out of the station or turned left but crossed the road before Alfred Street, he would not be caught by it. The camera captures images every six minutes, so there's also going to be a lot of faster moving activity that it misses completely.

There's very little foot traffic. I looked at images from 12 noon to 3pm and saw fewer than 20 people on that stretch of pavement. I've pulled one that might be worth a closer look. It's at 1pm exactly and seems to show a tall man walking along the cycle lane in reddish shoes, which is unusual, and fits the description. The resolution on these traffic cams is awful and black or white shoes tend to disappear into the pavement, but these have a bit of warmth to the pixels (it's more obvious if you've looked at a lot of CCTV images). However, the person is walking east towards the tube station, so if it were to be him, then he must have left the tube station a bit earlier than stated and had time to walk west a bit and either find a toilet or give up before coming back. It also seems like the man's top is dark, not white, so I'd be interested to know how complete a description that was, or whether he also had a dark jacket or jumper, say. It's very hard to tell though.

On the balance of probabilities, it's unlikely to be him, but I echo whoever said that his family and friends need to be canvassing along that stretch of road for CCTV from private sources before it all gets deleted.

The other thing that occurred to me is that Bow Road is a well served bus route. He probably had an Oyster card, so if he left the tube station, realised it wasn't a great place to find a toilet and a bus went past right at that moment, he might have jumped on it thinking to jump off again a couple of hundred yards down the road. If he knew the area, he might have reasoned that Mile End would be a better place to go, intending to jump on another bus right back again, but failing to for some reason. So I would also be asking TfL for bus CCTV, again before it's too late.

Similarly, I wondered if he might have been likely to use one of the Boris bikes from the stand at Bow Road. Perhaps someone should enquire if one was taken and not returned that day.

Just some random thoughts.

I'll attach the traffic cam image. It'll probably need saving and blowing up to see anything.

 

[JuicyLucy]

Sorry, it would help if I attached the colour version...

 

[SaintGertrude]

Has it been mentioned anywhere why he wasn't feeling very well. If he had bumped his head before the journey or had some kind of seizure for instance and now has amnesia. Did he have any recent life events which may have brought on dissociative amnesia. Dissociative Amnesia: Symptoms, Causes, Management & Treatment

 

[SaintGertrude]

This would be the kind of area he would have travelled to make it back to his home in Richmond.

 

[JuicyLucy]

This would be the kind of area he would have travelled to make it back to his home in Richmond.

Given they were at Bow Road I had kind of been assuming they were on a district line train either heading to or coming away from Richmond. But what was the other end of the journey? If they had a lot of baggage, had he met his friend on arrival from somewhere else, or was his friend leaving? What was the whole route and where might they have interchanged? Has there been anything said about their journey apart from what we already know about breaking it at Bow Road? Not that it's probably relevant, but it might give some insight into state of mind etc.

 

[Officer Dibble]

Thanks for signposting to this @Officer Dibble. I've been looking at CCTV images while I eat lunch.

The area isn't well covered unfortunately. There is one traffic camera over the road from the tube station, at the junction with Alfred Street. It points west down Bow Road, so doesn't cover the tube station directly, which is a shame. The northside pavement is also obscured by tree foliage, so if he turned right (east) out of the station or turned left but crossed the road before Alfred Street, he would not be caught by it. The camera captures images every six minutes, so there's also going to be a lot of faster moving activity that it misses completely.

There's very little foot traffic. I looked at images from 12 noon to 3pm and saw fewer than 20 people on that stretch of pavement. I've pulled one that might be worth a closer look. It's at 1pm exactly and seems to show a tall man walking along the cycle lane in reddish shoes, which is unusual, and fits the description. The resolution on these traffic cams is awful and black or white shoes tend to disappear into the pavement, but these have a bit of warmth to the pixels (it's more obvious if you've looked at a lot of CCTV images). However, the person is walking east towards the tube station, so if it were to be him, then he must have left the tube station a bit earlier than stated and had time to walk west a bit and either find a toilet or give up before coming back. It also seems like the man's top is dark, not white, so I'd be interested to know how complete a description that was, or whether he also had a dark jacket or jumper, say. It's very hard to tell though.

On the balance of probabilities, it's unlikely to be him, but I echo whoever said that his family and friends need to be canvassing along that stretch of road for CCTV from private sources before it all gets deleted.

The other thing that occurred to me is that Bow Road is a well served bus route. He probably had an Oyster card, so if he left the tube station, realised it wasn't a great place to find a toilet and a bus went past right at that moment, he might have jumped on it thinking to jump off again a couple of hundred yards down the road. If he knew the area, he might have reasoned that Mile End would be a better place to go, intending to jump on another bus right back again, but failing to for some reason. So I would also be asking TfL for bus CCTV, again before it's too late.

Similarly, I wondered if he might have been likely to use one of the Boris bikes from the stand at Bow Road. Perhaps someone should enquire if one was taken and not returned that day.

Just some random thoughts.

I'll attach the traffic cam image. It'll probably need saving and blowing up to see anything.

Hi, thanks for looking at all that! We know he turned right as he exited the station but after that he disappeared. He could of course doubled back, but I know if it was me and I was feeling unwell and needed to be sick I would try to get out of sight, so I would likely take the first right again - down there are railway arches with steel type single doors and locks. I wonder if he wandered in one of those, if a door was ajar and somehow the door closed behind him? My most likely theory fits in with the poster further above (apologies I've forgotten who it was) who suggested looking at nearby Cemetery Park - because if he had turned right again into a side street you can make your way to a edge of the park -w where there is a small section of wall between houses and the park - a 6 foot man could easily scale that, especially if they were about to be unwell and want privacy.

Can you clarify for me, the 6foot tall person with coloured shoes, which direction was that? Was that turning left or right from the station?

 

[Officer Dibble]

This would be the kind of area he would have travelled to make it back to his home in Richmond.
View attachment 314035

But to leave your friend who has no idea how to get around London on the platform would be strange to then try to walk home. Richmond is quite an affluent area to live in btw. JMO.

 

[Officer Dibble]

Given they were at Bow Road I had kind of been assuming they were on a district line train either heading to or coming away from Richmond. But what was the other end of the journey? If they had a lot of baggage, had he met his friend on arrival from somewhere else, or was his friend leaving? What was the whole route and where might they have interchanged? Has there been anything said about their journey apart from what we already know about breaking it at Bow Road? Not that it's probably relevant, but it might give some insight into state of mind etc.

Whether the friend had just arrived or was departing its stated that his friend has no idea how to get around London and needs assitance. So possibly he just arrived? JMO

 

[Officer Dibble]

Here is the Italian missing poster for AC:

Chi l'ha Visto - Scomparsi - Antonino - La scheda

The English translation says: "
Male
Age: 23 (at the time of disappearance)
Height: 180
Eyes: brown
Hair: brown
Clothing: white t-shirt, black pants, orange shoes brand "Nike", black backpack model Pilton Distinguishing marks
: various tattoos on the body
Disappeared from: London
Date of disappearance: 09/16/2021
Publication date: 09/20/2021

Antonino, 23, originally from Positano, has lived and worked in London for a couple of years as a manager. On Thursday 16 September, shortly before 1pm, he got off at the "Bow Road" subway station, and since then there has been no news of him. He never came home. It is not known if he has his documents with him or even his mobile phone, which is turned off. Speaks the English language very well.

@JuicyLucy it says "shortly before 1pm" so your CCTV find could be correct. However, CCTV caught him turning right from the station and your CCTV sighting is by Alfred Road, is that correct?

I'm interested why he was a Manager for a couple of years and yet its been mention that he was due to start a new Waiter job shortly after he went missing.

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

So much is speculation because we simply do not know all the facts, and probably there is more that has not been put out into the public domain.

One of his friends said they didn't *think* he had any prior mental health issues, but even that cannot be taken as gospel. So many who are depressed do not show it. He may have been stressed about the upcoming new job, we don't know.

We don't know even if he woke up that morning feeling dodgy, or this sudden urge for a toilet came on him suddenly. The person he was with may have given police information on that, as to whether he had been having trouble during the journey. We don't know whether he may have ingested something that brought on an adverse reaction, or even, as I said previously, if this was just a ruse to get away at that point.

 

[Officer Dibble]

So much is speculation because we simply do not know all the facts, and probably there is more that has not been put out into the public domain.

One of his friends said they didn't *think* he had any prior mental health issues, but even that cannot be taken as gospel. So many who are depressed do not show it. He may have been stressed about the upcoming new job, we don't know.

We don't know even if he woke up that morning feeling dodgy, or this sudden urge for a toilet came on him suddenly. The person he was with may have given police information on that, as to whether he had been having trouble during the journey. We don't know whether he may have ingested something that brought on an adverse reaction, or even, as I said previously, if this was just a ruse to get away at that point.

What type of ruse do you think would make a young man abandon a friend who is lost on their own in London, with baggage?

He is in the right age group to get Appendicitis. I know this UK article says up to age 20 but my other half had a swift emergency requiring within an hour in his early to mid twenties. Symptoms came on gradually with nausea then Diarrhorea then suddenly became acute and agonising. If AC was suffering this and he went somewhere quiet to be sick etc it could have become an emergency very quickly.

Appendicitis

Obviously we don't know if he was genuinely unwell or feigning it though. JMO MOO

 

[JuicyLucy]

@Officer Dibble The man I found was to the west of the station, so as if having turned left. Can I ask where you read that he was caught on CCTV turning right? I don't think I've read that in any of the media quoted so far. (I'm sure you're right, just wondering if there's been additional news.) I also didn't know about the black backpack so I'll look again to see if that helps. It's a shame traffic cam images are so rubbish, as their ready availability means that going through them is one thing we can do really easily to help police investigations.

 

[SaintGertrude]

What type of ruse do you think would make a young man abandon a friend who is lost on their own in London, with baggage?

He is in the right age group to get Appendicitis. I know this UK article says up to age 20 but my other half had a swift emergency requiring within an hour in his early to mid twenties. Symptoms came on gradually with nausea then Diarrhorea then suddenly became acute and agonising. If AC was suffering this and he went somewhere quiet to be sick etc it could have become an emergency very quickly.

Appendicitis

Obviously we don't know if he was genuinely unwell or feigning it though. JMO MOO

I think you might be spot on there with the stomach pains leading to something more serious. Are there some toilets nearby even the local cemetery ones which may not be manned very often. Is there some kind of club only open on a Thursday maybe where he used the toilets and got shut in a building after collapsing. For instance a local church/masonic hall open for some kind of event but has not been used since. A ruptured appendix would not get him very far from where he went missing.

 

[HollyHunter9]

What type of ruse do you think would make a young man abandon a friend who is lost on their own in London, with baggage?

He is in the right age group to get Appendicitis. I know this UK article says up to age 20 but my other half had a swift emergency requiring within an hour in his early to mid twenties. Symptoms came on gradually with nausea then Diarrhorea then suddenly became acute and agonising. If AC was suffering this and he went somewhere quiet to be sick etc it could have become an emergency very quickly.

Appendicitis

Obviously we don't know if he was genuinely unwell or feigning it though. JMO MOO

That's a really good thought actually. Many years ago I had appendicitis. It started as tummy ache and feeling sick but within hours my appendix actually burst and I was really poorly. I have a feeling he may have collapsed in alleyway nearby and has just not yet been found. If he was feeling unwell I doubt he managed to get very far.

 

[AcbMurders]

Antonino Coppola’s case has just featured on Chi l’ha visto, an Italian national TV programme about missing people. In brief:

• On 16 Sept, approx 1pm, AC was travelling on the tube with a friend. They were moving to a new house and were carrying suitcases;
• When he felt unwell, they got off the train and the friend stayed on the platform with the luggage whilst AC went looking for a toilet;
• 20 mins later, the friend started to get worried and went out looking for him. He then alerted the family (unclear if friend speaks English and if he alerted anyone at the station);
• CCTV shows AC exiting the station, looking unwell and turning right, but no sign of him after that;
• On TV they showed a photo of the black backpack he was carrying when he disappeared;
• AC was a happy guy and had no problems except that a week earlier he had had an asthma attack and was taken to hospital;
• His father and brother have gone to London looking for him;
• AC speaks good English and lived in Australia for 6 months when he was 18/19. He’s lived in London for the last 2 years.

The live programme was from Positano, not London, with his mother and many family and friends present.

I can’t put a link because the programme is still on but I will do as soon as they make it available on streaming