Owen Harding

Owen Harding went missing. He was last seen when he left his home in Saltdean on 26 March 2020 during the first few days of the Covid lockdown.

He had stormed out of his house because he was angry that he would not be able to see his girlfriend who lived in York because of the lockdown.

It was thought that he might have tried to travel to Pocklington near York in Yorkshire, which was 280 miles away from his home in Saltdean near Brighton.

He was last seen on CCTV at about 6.13pm walking off towards a well-known cliffside path about half-a-mile from his home. His phone then became disconnected from the mast at 6.23pm.

A massive search was made for him in the area, but without luck.

It was noted that there had been a low tide at the time and that ocean conditions would have carried his body out to sea if he had gone into the water.

Owen Harding was described as:

• White.
• 6ft tall.
• Short dark brown hair.
• Normally wore white trainers, tracksuit trousers and a dark hoodie.

His mother blamed the lockdown for him vanishing. She said, 'Owen kept on asking me, 'Can I go to my girlfriends? I'd rather be there than here with you and my sister'. Fair enough, you know, but I knew it wasn't allowed'. She said that she had been concerned that he would spread the virus and that the argument became quite heated, and that she said, 'can you actually just stop talking about it. There's no more discussion, that's it'.

She said that when he left the house that she thought, 'great stomp it off, come back later', noting that the rules were the rules, however, she never saw him again.