Presenter Dan Walker tonight launches a campaign to help trace missing people. The 5 News effort follows the Mirror’s own Missed campaign, which we launched on Mother’s Day, March 30, 2025. In partnership with the Missing People charity, we are aiming to highlight forgotten, unsolved, or under-reported missing people cases across the UK.
After launching the new campaign – called Missing – at 5pm tonight, each week on the 5 News Tuesday evening bulletin, Dan will feature a missing person, trying to shine new light on each case. Here, he explains how the campaign will work and why the work is so important.
Dan says: “News moves quickly. There is always another story, another interview, another reason to turn the page. But when someone you love is missing, you cannot simply move on with everyone else. The questions remain, long after the cameras have gone. That is why I believe our public service broadcasters have a responsibility to keep a focus squarely on these stories.
“Three years ago, we had the exclusive interview with the partner of Nicola Bulley. That led to a series called Vanished. Through that work we helped locate a number of missing people and drive record calls to the Missing People helpline while the show was on air. For us at 5 and ITN, this is an important issue.
“In our new regular feature, Missing, we will hear from relatives, friends and the police officers working to find answers. The aim is simple: keep these appeals visible and, hopefully, generate information that makes a difference.
“Tonight we speak to the family of Denise Jarvis, who disappeared in August 2022. Her sister Rachel and mother Bernadette are making a fresh appeal. Rachel says that, despite four years passing, it still feels like yesterday.
“But Denise’s case brings home the struggle authorities face in the search for missing people. Every 90 seconds, someone is reported missing in the UK – with around 300,000 missing reports made to the police each year.
“While most are found within a few hours or days, an estimated 10,000 people have been missing for over a year. Only a fraction of these longer-term missing people are covered by the media.
“Those arguments will be made today in Parliament, as I join the charity Missing People, broadcasters, campaigners, and MPs to discuss how media and the third sector can help keep missing people in the public eye. We’ll hear from Home Office Minister Satvir Kaur who will reiterate her commitment to ensuring the government continues to do everything it can to support efforts to find missing people.
“As the Minister welcomes Channel 5’s efforts to shine a light on these cases, we are reminded of the public value of our services. For the viewers, our ask is straightforward: please give these appeals a moment of your time.
“Look at the faces. Listen to the details. If you know something, however small it seems, pass it to the police. We don’t know which piece of information might matter… but we can choose not to look away.”
Still missing
The mother of missing Steven Durand is to make a fresh festive appeal in a bid to find her son. Before Christmas, 5 News will revisit the case of Steven, from Preston, who was 31 when he went missing in 2018.
Mum Christine, who told her story as part of the Mirror’s Missed campaign, is making a new appeal for information. He used to call his mum every morning at 8am but suddenly stopped. Christine is particularly fearful for her son, because he has complex health issues.
She said: “I keep thinking the worst because Steven’s so vulnerable. I lose hope that somebody out there will speak up and give me closure.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
