Fears grow for missing Sarah after 4-day hunt
I’M A DIFFERENT PERSON IN MY NEW ROMANCE, SAYS GRENNAN
THE family of a woman who went missing five days ago have told of their desperation as police and searchers continue to draw a blank.
Murder squad detectives took over yesterday as officers scoured Clapham Common, south-west London, for signs of Sarah Everard.
They used sniffer dogs to search the pond there but said they had so far found ‘nothing significant’.
Sarah, 33, was seen on CCTV while walking home to Brixton after visiting a friend’s house in Clapham at 9pm on Wednesday. The marketing manager’s route for the 50-minute journey would take her across the common.
Her family, who have come to London from York, said in a statement: ‘With every day that goes by, we are getting more worried about Sarah.
‘She is always in regular contact with us and with her friends and it is totally out of character for her to disappear like this. We long to see her and want nothing more than for her to be found safe and well.
‘We are desperate for news and if anyone knows anything about what has happened to her, we would urge you to please come forward.’
Sarah left the house on Leathwaite Road in Clapham via a rear gate leading to the A205 South Circular. It is unclear whether she ever made it home.
She was wearing a green rain jacket, a pair of navy blue trousers with a white diamond pattern and turquoise
and orange trainers. She also had on a white beanie hat and is thought to have had a pair of green earphones with her.
Det Ch Insp Ian Kenward said police were growing increasingly concerned for her welfare and have officers working round the clock.
He urged anyone who was in the area last Wednesday night to think about whether they had seen Sarah or noticed anything suspicious. He also called on people with footage of the area to check it. Anyone with information should call police on 101 or the Missing People charity on 116 000.
OM GRENNAN has revealed he has a second shot at being a better boyfriend after finding a new mystery love.
The singer said his girlfriend has made him ‘very happy’ after recording new album Evering Road – all about treating his ex badly badly. The Found What I’ve Been Looking For rocker told Guilty Pleasures: ‘I’ve met somebody and I am a very happy man right now. I am a man of mystery but things are moving in the right direction.’
It’s a fresh start for Tom after putting the finishing touches on the painful second album, which includes new single
Make My Mind Up.
‘The whole album is about a time when I was in a relationship and I really didn’t love myself at all. I couldn’t love anybody else until I loved myself,’ said the
25-year-old. ‘I was the toxic one in that relationship and I had a lot of work to do on myself. I have done and to be honest I am a whole different human being now.’
Tom continued: ‘Writing songs about that last relationship was therapy. It was me holding my hands up and going, “I did make mistakes but I am a human being as well”. Unfortunately, I lost somebody at the time who I really did love.
Putting it on a song is how I got over it.’
The record drops on Friday. ‘Writing songs was therapy’: Penning new album helped Tom Grennan get over his ex-lover
■ I agree wholeheartedly with Jon and Helen about how unfair it is that lockdown workers will have to contribute the same towards the financial recovery as those who have been at home on furlough (MetroTalk, Fri).
I work in construction (which Boris Johnson never put into lockdown) and my partner works for the local authority, supporting care homes. We have both worked all the way through the pandemic.
The government should be giving tax breaks to NHS workers who have been at the forefront throughout but also to the key workers, bus and train drivers, post people, delivery drivers and all of those who have kept the country ticking over while the rest have enjoyed an extended break.
I spent last summer walking home from a deserted railway station, past tipsy neighbours with beautifully manicured gardens, polished cars and freshly painted houses. You could spot my house a mile off – it was the one with the dirty car outside and grubby paint.
As my partner works from home, it doesn’t help my state of mind knowing that if my family gets Covid, it will more than likely be me that has brought it into the home after travelling on the train into London.
I’m fed up with being told we’re all in this together – it certainly doesn’t feel that way. No wonder so many people don’t want the government to come out of lockdown too soon.
Like Helen, I sympathise with those who have struggled but there are too many people who have enjoyed a wellpaid extended break.
Mick S, Essex
■ Jon seems to be trapped in an incredibly dense bubble when he seems to suggest furloughed workers should have to pay back the money they have gained through future taxes.
May I remind Jon that by ‘not stopping working’ throughout the pandemic he is a clear lockdown winner, in that he has a job and an income – something many don’t. All those furloughed have had their work taken away through no fault of their own and will inevitably be made redundant as the economic carnage from this debacle takes hold in the years to come.
Jon would do well to get out of his bubble, look at the economic devastation going on around him and thank his lucky stars he has a stable income instead of moaning about future tax rises. Either that, or I expect Jon to pay for the free schooling, healthcare and other generous state subsidies he has benefited from throughout his life out of his income.
Darren, Whitby
■ Jon thinks he shouldn’t have to pay tax rises as he has worked throughout lockdown. I have also worked through lockdown and am grateful that I could
Good morning, Mr Hancock. I was horrified but not surprised to learn that your government, of which you are our health secretary, has given NHS workers such a miserly one per cent pay rise. Doctors, nurses and other staff work very hard, especially in these times of a pandemic, yet you continue to treat them like dirt. Yours in disgust.
Adrian Appley, via email
do so and that I still have a job. The people who were made redundant will be subject to increased taxes, if and when they are able to find employment, yet they are not benefiting from furlough payments at the moment.
I shall be happy to pay more tax when required if it means getting our economy back on track and helping those people who are unfortunate
enough to be unemployed. Brian, Edinburgh.
Well said, Helen, key workers should get a sabbatical. As an NHS worker in a London hospital, I was redeployed during the pandemic. Furlough and working from home were not an option. Key workers should be appreciated.
Lynne, London
14
MORE than two thirds of people think women’s achievements in the armed forces should receive more recognition, a poll finds.
Four in ten – 42 per cent – associate females in the military with roles such as nursing, rather than battlefield heroics, the British Forces Broadcasting Service’s (BFBS) survey to mark International Women’s Day reports.
Three quarters of people know that Florence Nightingale nursed soldiers during the Crimean War, but only six per cent were aware Michelle ‘Chuck’ Norris was the first woman to be awarded the military cross.
Iraq veteran Pte Norris, then aged 19 and a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps, received the honour after pulling her wounded sergeant to safety after their armoured vehicle came under fire in 2006.
Just eight per cent knew Maj Philippa Tattersall was the first woman to undergo the Royal Marines’ commando course and receive the green beret. Fewer than one in ten has heard of
Violette Szabo, a widow posthumously awarded the George Cross for her work as a secret agent in occupied France during World War II.
BFBS chief executive Simon Bucks said: ‘Even before women had the right to take on ground combat roles five years ago, they regularly carried out crucial work at the heart of battle.’