Deante James, 17, who went missing on the evening of March 31 from Enfield, North London, has been found alive and it’s all thanks to our Missed campaign we’re working on with the Missing People charity
The mother of a missing teenager who has been found alive has thanked The Mirror after we highlighted his story as part of our Missed campaign.
Deante James, 17, went missing on the evening of March 31 from the family home in Enfield, north London, while suffering with psychosis, after unknowingly smoking a joint laced with Spice – a lab-made drug designed to mimic the effects of cannabis..
His mum, Vandana Bhogowoth, who found Deante safe, tells The Mirror: “I’m so happy and relieved, thank God we’ve found him. When I got the call to say he’d been found I was over the moon – I couldn’t stop crying.”
“Thanks so much for everything you’ve done – it pushed the police and this time his name was entered onto the system correctly. It’s great news and he’s now getting the help he needs.”
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Deante’s life changed a few weeks before he vanished, after he shared a joint with friends, not knowing it was laced with Spice – a drug known to cause side effects ranging from difficulty breathing to psychotic episodes in some users. He developed psychosis and the night he went missing, he ran away without his phone or wallet.
Lovingly referring to Deante as “my boo,” Vandana shared her story with The Mirror’s Missed campaign last month, telling us how he he was picked up by British Transport Police three days after going missing for not being able to pay his fare but let go because of an inputting error and fell through the cracks. But, instead of bringing him home and ending Vandana’s agony, the police let him go.
Vandana, 36, explained at the time: “He’s underage, he’s vulnerable and at risk. Police had hold of him and let him go – we could have had him home by now.” It was only after Vandana contacted her MP that Deante’s case was changed from medium to high risk – despite being 17 and vulnerable.
And it’s not just Deante – many missing people are slipping through the cracks, because there’s no clear government plan to protect or support them. Now Vandana is determined that other families should not be put through the same agony as she was – meeting with Jess Phillips MP, the parliamentary under-secretary for The Home Office, while Deante was missing to share her experience.
And she is backing our Missed campaign, which is calling for a co-ordinated response by services like the police and hospitals in dealing with missing people.
Deante’s story illustrates the importance of signing our petition calling for a proper government strategy, led by the Home Office, Education, and Health departments, so that missing people and their loved ones get the help they deserve. So far 13, 477 people have signed, but we need 100,000 for it to be debated in Parliament.
Susannah Drury, Director of Policy and Development at Missing People, which backs our campaign, says: “We are incredibly relieved that Deante James has been found safe, after more than a month of being missing and at high risk of harm.
“Throughout his time missing, our team has been supporting his mum and simply being there during the most frightening moments of her life. While we share in her relief, we are also deeply concerned about how someone at such high risk could disappear without an urgent response being triggered.
“This case highlights urgent gaps in the system, and it’s exactly why our current petition is more important than ever. We need lasting change — not just to prevent young people from falling through the cracks, but to ensure that families like his have the support they need at every stage, both in crisis and beyond.
Right now, Deante’s family need space and time to begin to process what they’ve been through, and we will continue to stand beside them as they navigate the days and weeks ahead.”