“I’ve got Steven’s photographs all over my living room. If I sit at home too long by myself that will get me very depressed,” she tells me over the phone from her home. “I try to keep busy so my mind’s not on Steven all the time, see? Because your mind wanders. At nighttime, that’s when I think about him a lot.”
Christine’s son went missing five years ago. He lived in Preston but was last seen in Manchester on 20 October 2018.
The five-year anniversary of his disappearance has not long passed and Christmas is approaching.
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“It does get difficult at Christmas without – my son was called Steven, same as you, spelled the same as well – being here, but we manage. I’ve got a lot of grandchildren. I’ll be at my daughter’s. You have to stay strong, don’t you?”
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The description on his appeal describes Steven as: 5’10”, stocky build with cropped dark hair – but that doesn’t describe who Steven was.
The last known CCTV image of Steven Durand
“Nobody had a bad word to say about him,” Christine, 67, says. “He loved his family. He loved me. We were very close. He followed Man United since he was about seven, went to matches and watched all the games.
“He didn’t have any children, but he would’ve made a great husband. He loved his nieces and nephews. Every Christmas and birthday he’d come here with presents and would play with them.
“He was so kind-hearted. He hated anybody feeling miserable – and he was struggling himself.”
Steven experienced a lot of mental health issues and had been seeing support workers since he was a teenager.
“He used to say to me, ‘I don’t understand it’,” Christine remembers. “He used to ring me up at stupid hours and ask me to go down and sit with him in his flat. He did get lonely.
“They couldn’t work out exactly what was wrong with him. He was on a lot of medication. He had carers but because he missed a couple of appointments they discharged him, which they really shouldn’t have done. He went missing two weeks later.
“It was five days after his 31st birthday,” Christine continues. “He was last seen in Manchester, but they don’t know how he got there. He was born with mild cerebral palsy, so he had a noticeable limp. Anybody who saw him would have known it was him. That’s why I find it strange nobody’s ever spotted him anywhere.
“I miss him so much. He used to ring me every single morning. He’d say, ‘Good morning mum, what are you doing today?’ I miss all that. A lovely lad.”
Christine and Steven’s story is sadly not unique. A person is reported missing in the UK every 90 seconds. That’s over 170,000 people each year, more than the population of Oxford or York.
The majority of people are found within 48 hours, but 1,000 people who go missing remain missing for over a year.
In The Big Issue you may have seen appeals we print from the charity Missing People. Steven Durand has been featured twice and Christine buys the magazine from her local vendor: “I have a look to see who else is missing,” she says.
Missing People exists to support anyone affected. “We have our helplines, which are supporting young people and adults who are thinking about going away, who are missing, and who are wanting to reconnect,” says Helen Alves, head of services development. “Then we’re supporting those who are affected by the missing – family, friends, colleagues, people who are searching, waiting for their loved ones to come home.”
The cost of living crisis has resulted in a rising number of people who are going missing coming to harm.
“We hear on the helpline from people who are in financial crisis, who’ve got relationship breakdowns,” Alves explains. “During this time of year, people will be missed more. The empty chair, the empty room, the presents that are unwrapped. Over the Christmas break, when people are home together, that can fuel family challenges.”
Of the total number of people reported missing, 97,000 are adults and nearly 70,000 are children. One in 10 children in care are reported missing, compared to 1 in 200 from the general population. Young people are also at risk of exploitation. They may be seeking to escape abusive homes or be forced to leave their home by criminal gangs.
Among adults, eight in 10 reported missing will have diagnosed or undiagnosed mental health issues; 40% of people with dementia will also go missing at some point.
No matter the circumstances, Missing People is there 365 days a year. “Our helpline is available all through Christmas,” Alves says. “It’s free, it’s anonymous. You can have a frank and honest conversation about what you’re worried about or what crime’s been committed against you. We give support to a person to make the decisions what work best for them.
“We speak to people who are enacting a suicide plan and we can get help to them. And for those who are thinking of going away, we look at the change that would stop them feeling like that. For some people it may be a medication review or telling their foster carer that they’re not happy. It may be that just talking finds a solution.”
Solutions are found. People respond to Missing People’s appeals to pass on information or get back in touch. Those can be billboards, posters sent to homeless services or featuring in these pages.
“They’ll realise that there’s somebody looking for them and in itself, that’s a support. We’ve seen people say, ‘Before I saw my poster, I hadn’t realised anybody cared enough to look for me.’”
Appeals in The Big Issue are valuable, Alves says, not only because they are seen by people experiencing homelessness but because they are seen by “altruistic people that buy, who are caring and compassionate”.
“We have lots of lots of reconnections each year and pass messages on for people who want to reconnect to their family members,” Alves says.
And for those still waiting, like Christine Durand, Missing People is there too.
Christine has a message for anybody who might be in the position her son Steven was before he went missing: “Get support. Go get help.”
And for those who are missing: “I would say get on the phone and ring your family or get somebody to ring your family. Tell anybody, just say are you doing all right. It’s just the not knowing, you see? I just wish I got a phone call from anybody that has seen him. I wish that he would have got some help wherever he is.”
If you need to talk to someone, call or text Missing People on 116000. Find out more information and donate here.
This article is taken from The Big Issue magazine, which exists to give homeless, long-term unemployed and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy!
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