Thread by @HollieAnneB

WEIRD night for my mum 🧵
Old woman knocks on her door, says she’s 72 and homeless and has traveled to County Durham today from London using her “bus pass”
Mum calls the police for assistance and gets help from next door
Police arrive but she’ll only get in the car with my mum

Police’s main priority is to find somewhere for her to stay for the night until they can establish things further
She’s very, very vulnerable
She doesn’t know her date of birth and has no ID on her. She’s given her name but it’s super generic.
She has a southern accent

She’s not had anything to eat all day, she’s only just told mum this so mum is making her a sandwich
She said she got the train to mum’s town but the nearest station is Durham, about a 20-30 minute bus journey away
I’m presuming police are contacting @metpoliceuk currently?

@metpoliceuk I’ve searched the name + missing (don’t want to put it online to protect her) and can only find a woman from 2014 who’d be in her 60s now
Is there a way to find out if any women in their 70s are missing from care homes/hospitals etc?
@metpoliceuk @missingpeople

@metpoliceuk @missingpeople If anyone from the Stanley/Durham/Newcastle etc area knows of a missing older woman who doesn’t speak with a local accent, please let @DurhamPolice know or call 101.

If mum hadn’t sent me a photo of the back of the policeman then I’d think she was having a career change and becoming a crime novelist.

Haven’t had an update for the last half an hour. Hoping this woman is ok. Surely someone is missing her? How has she travelled hundreds of miles on a bus pass but apparently got the train? But only has £5 in her purse? Who is she?

I have an update. It’s a sad one.
The brilliant police officers at @DurhamPolice couldn’t find her anywhere for the night. A local housing triage said because she’d made her way up north of her own accord, they couldn’t do anything for her (WTF!)
The old woman would go to the…

@DurhamPolice Police station and stay there overnight, nor would she go to the hospital. The police had their hands tied.
Sadly, the only thing they could do was take her to Newcastle train station and put her on a late night train back to Kings Cross.
Everyone involved is gutted. I’m angry

@DurhamPolice Surely there was something else? They don’t know for sure she even came from London? But I do have some possible leads on who she might be and I’d really appreciate you all sharing this thread.

@DurhamPolice Apart from her generic name which I don’t want to give out, she’s said:
She used to be a live in cleaner for @ClaudiaWinkle’s mother in law.
Last night she was allowed to sleep in the reception of @HiltonHotels Park Lane & they gave her some refreshments.
Who is she? Pls help

@DurhamPolice @ClaudiaWinkle @HiltonHotels She claims she’s 72. She’s black. She was dressed well (but no coat) and clean. She’s clearly VERY vulnerable but has seemingly travelled hundreds of miles on her own today and ended up at my mum’s door in Stanley, Co Durham
@metpoliceuk

@DurhamPolice @ClaudiaWinkle @HiltonHotels @metpoliceuk She told my mum and the police that she’s got cancer and they can’t cure it 😞 Someone must know who she is! She’s got a southern/London accent and she’s not been reported as a missing person in the north east

@DurhamPolice @metpoliceuk My mum is heartbroken. Mum asked her why she’d picked mum’s house- nearest train station is at least 20 mins away so she’d have passed thousands of houses.
She said mum’s house looked nice & she thought nice people would live there. How right she was. My mum is an angel

@DurhamPolice @metpoliceuk I dread to think of what could’ve happened if she’d picked the wrong house.
Mum gave her a coat, food and drink and some toiletries before police took her to the train station. It’s likely we’ll never find out who she is but I want to know she’s ok

@DurhamPolice @metpoliceuk I’ll try contacting @HiltonHotels park lane tomorrow, they might have more info they could pass onto the police. My mum is really shaken up.

@DurhamPolice @metpoliceuk @HiltonHotels If you have any leads, any idea how we can help this poor women please let me and/or the police know.

God bless her soul. We’ll always remember you.

Hold your loved ones tight tonight. The world can be scary.

Sorry for grammar/typo, I’m exhausted!

I’m going to try and sleep now. Keep sharing. If anyone has any mutuals with @ClaudiaWinkle or indeed her mother in law, I think this could be how we work it out (woman said she was a live in cleaner for Claudia’s mother in law at one point)

The @DurhamPolice man said he’d contact mum tomorrow. I’ll keep you updated and I guess try and do some searching so we can hopefully find her and get her to a safe space.

@DurhamPolice One thing that gets me the most is she said she ended up in County Durham today because she just wanted to be somewhere quiet 😭 I’ll pray forever that she always has peace.

I’ve changed my settings so anyone should be able to reply to this now.