Editor makes moves for missing persons

Missing Australia Network

Last updated:
Newsport Editor Bryan Littlely, right, on the set of Under Investigation in 2022 with Liz Hayes and Leave A Light On Director Suzie Ratcliffe: Picture Under Investigation, Ch 9
Information released by Queensland Police.

A young Mareeba girl remains missing with Queensland Police appealing for information on her whereabouts and adding her to the scroll of those on its website where families desperately await information to advise they are safe.

The 16-year-old was reported missing from Mareeba on September 2, last seen at a Moondani Avenue on August 31 at 6am. She is described as Caucasian, approximately 163cm tall with a slim build, with blonde hair and hazel/green eyes.

While considered she may be travelling in the Cairns area, family and police are concerned for her welfare due to her age and a medical condition.

The quest for information on the girl in the hope she can be reunited with loved ones - or at least provide them with assurance she is safe - is an all too familiar scenario for families around the country.

Across Australia, there are more than 2500 long term missing persons, those who have not been in touch with their family or friends network for more than seven days.

And it is not always the case that police can issue the alerts or do the work which would be needed to get the answers on their whereabouts. Stretched police resources, the consideration that many missing people have chosen to go missing and the reality that a growing number of missing persons cases have a tragic resolution as a result of mental illness, missing persons matters have fallen down the list of police priorities.

Newsport consulting Editor Bryan Littlely, an investigative journalist and co-founder of missing persons foundation Leave A Light On Inc says it is an unfortunate by-product of a growing crime rate and battle to maintain strong police numbers that missing persons cases increasingly are being left too late to investigate or, worse, are being cast aside.

“Our organisation, Leave A Light On Inc, works hard to keep in the media spotlight and in front of as many eyes as possible the cold cases and missing persons matters that may otherwise be forgotten about in the hope that someone who knows something says something which may resolve these matters,’’ Mr Littlely said.

“We deal with hundreds of families who have a void in their lives as a result of a person who has gone missing. The heartache for those families, the trauma of not knowing what happened to their son, sister, brother or parent is brutal and it is not made any easier when told police don’t have the time or resources to look at those cases.’’

Now, that is being challenged with a push to have the NSW Parliament hold an inquest looking at overhauling how missing persons cases are handled, as a forerunner to a national shift.

A petition with almost 6000 signatures outlines that there are wide-ranging and systemic issues surrounding missing persons investigations currently managed by the NSW Police Force including those regarding persons described as long-term missing.

The petitioners request that the House immediately commences a parliamentary inquiry into missing persons investigations currently carried out and overseen by the NSW Police Force, and commences action to fund and provide legislative support to a new independent search organisation tasked with management and oversight of missing persons investigations.

SIGN THE PETITION

Mr Littlely, who has worked for more than a decade on a private investigation of the 1973 abduction of Joanne Ratcliffe, 11, and Kirste Gordon, 4, from an Adelaide Oval football game, is attending the inaugural Missing Australia Network Symposium in Sydney this weekend where he will join Leave A Light On director Suzie Ratcliffe and other presenters, including The Lady Vanishes podcast creator Sally Leydon in making the push for change.

Families of dozens of missing persons are expected to take part in the Symposium where Mr Littlely and Ms Ratcliffe will also be calling for the reopening of the South Australian inquest into the disappearance of the girls from Adelaide Oval, along with sending material considered of value to their investigations to the United States for specialised testing to determine if it contains traceable DNA and its chemical analysis.

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