Police plea over missing student goes online

POLICE are making online appeals via the YouTube and Facebook websites to help to trace a student who disappeared while on a night out in Leeds.

Matthew Wilcox, 19, has not been seen since Friday when he left the Mission nightclub, off Lower Briggate in Leeds city centre, at about 3am.

It is believed he did not return to his student accommodation in the Clarence Dock area. Mr Wilcox, from Wickersley, Rotherham, who is studying geography at Leeds University, has not been missing before.

Officers have been searching land in the city centre and the River Aire, speaking to residents and local businesses and examining hours of CCTV footage in a bid to trace his movements.

West Yorkshire Police yesterday issued a message on a dedicated Facebook site, called Help Find Matthew Wilcox, urging people who may have seen the missing student to come forward.

Detective Chief Inspector Dick Nuttall has also made a video appeal for information on YouTube and the West Yorkshire Police website.

Officers have been contacting businesses in the Lower Briggate, Call Lane and Clarence Dock areas to obtain CCTV footage from Thursday night and Friday morning last week.

They are urging any businesses in the area who may have external CCTV footage to get in touch by calling 0845 6060606.

Meanwhile, underwater searches were carried out in York yesterday in a separate inquiry to find another student missing after a night out.

North Yorkshire Police launched the inquiry after Jonathan Havron, 18, disappeared early on Saturday, after a night out in York city centre.

North Yorkshire Police confirmed yesterday that Mr Havron, of Huntington, York, had been seen in the Lowther Arms on Cumberland Street early on Saturday.