Today’s story is that of Harvey Parker, a story that is slowly beginning to garner media coverage here in the United Kingdom. These kinds of cases are always the ones that harbour the most hope, because cases are easier to solve while people’s memories are fresher.
Where is Harvey Parker?
Unlike most planned blog pots on this website – which revolve around cold or older cases, today’s is one that unfolds around us. And, for that reason, it’s important to share the details of the case as wildly and as often as possible.
Even if it’s not this blog post that you share, retweet the CCTV images that the police have shared or any mainstream news coverage.
In the case of Harvey Parker, foul play seems lower down on the list of assumptions based on what we know about the police investigation. But there is, of course, the chance that someone saw something, and perhaps that last piece of information is all that’s needed to crack this case.
**There is an update on this case since the date it was published**
It was the 17th of December 2021, that 20-year-old student Harvey Parker was last seen following a night out in London. It was a Friday and based on what we know, he was last seen at the Heaven Nightclub at 2.15am.
Prior to this, Harvey had attended a Lil Simz concert at the 02 Academy and had also returned home to change before heading to the nightclub. At this point, his mum had seen him and engaged with him, later telling the media that he was chirpy and had clear enjoyed the start of his evening.
At 2.15am, he was captured on CCTV leaving the Heaven nightclub in Charring Cross and entering Craven Street, walking towards the Embankment. At this point in time – in what is believed to be the last confirmed image of him – he was alone.
The police have already confirmed that they’re working on this assumption, realising a statement to the media which stated:
‘At this stage of the investigation, there is nothing to suggest that there is any third party involvement.”
The police have released a few stills from that CCTV footage in the hopes that perhaps someone else did see Harvey Parker after this point. These are included below.
According to police, something on that CCTV gave them pause for concern and they’ve since suggested that they now have reason to believe that Parker may have entered the Thames. They believe that this would have happened near the Golden Jubilee pedestrian bridge which links Embankment to Waterloo.
This has led to a specialist search of the area, with dive teams having been sent to look for any indicator of where Harvey might be. Unfortunately, they didn’t find anything, nothing to suggest what happened or where Harvey might now be.
What we know about Harvey Parker so far?
At the time of his disappearance, Harvey Parker was a student at the University of York and is said to be an extremely talented and gifted musician. Originally from London, he knew the area well and his family lived in Waterloo.
He also had a job, working as a member of the front-of-house team at the Theatre Royal in Stratford East. They too have pleaded for the public’s help, urging people to share any information about their ‘lovely’ member of staff.
In fact, it was due to his job at this theatre that there was an initial delay in the realisation that he was missing. When he hadn’t returned from his night out, his mother assumed that he’d gone to work but the alarm was raised when he failed to return home that evening.
A phone call to the theatre told her all she needed to know, because Harvey had missed two of his scheduled shifts. This was entirely out of character and it was unheard of for him to miss a shift following a night out.
Despite numerous calls to his phone, not a single call has been answered.
His disappearance is entirely out of character and both his family, and police, have stated that they are now very concerned about him.
Speaking to the Metro about her son, Amanda Parker said that she couldn’t think of any reason why he would have gone missing.
She told the paper that “just before we went to bed Harvey came back and was really upbeat and very positive about the concert and had a good time.”
“Harvey’s very musically accomplished and very academically gifted and really confident. The flute is Harvey’s first instrument, along with the oboe, piano, and organ. Harvey’s a phenomenal musician. Harvey is very engaging, has lots of friends, and is quirky.
“At the same time, Harvey’s very vulnerable and can misread a situation and get overwhelmed.
“Harvey can’t necessarily read social situations and is outgoing – and that’s when autism really comes into play because what to do next would be a real challenge.”
They initially hoped to have their son home in time for Christmas but sadly that wish was not granted and at the time of writing this article, 31st December 2021, Harvey is still missing.
What you can do to help?
There’s a sense of helplessness with cases that have remained unsolved for any prolonged period of time but when a case is active, there’s an important role that we can apply.
It’s cliché but there are people out there who will have seen Harvey during the timeframe in which he vanished. It might have been long before the CCTV timestamp, but it’s possible that something they saw could help police to better understand where he went or how he was behaving.
There are TWO key things that we can do:
- Share the blog post, share Harvey’s pictures and share any news articles on any and all of your social media platforms.
- Share the contact information and case reference, so that if anyone does have information, they have easy access to the reporting hotline. Reporting is super easy, call 101 or tweet @MetCC and give the reference CAD 3134/18DEC21.
It’s also worth sharing a description of Harvey Parker. According to London News Online, Harvey Parker is described as being 5ft8, mixed-race, of slim build with short black hair.
This case is active, and this blog post might be one that is gradually and slowly updated with the hope being that perhaps, eventually, we can move it into the solved category.
Update - Jan 2022
On the 4th of January 2022, a body was found in the Thames and it has since been confirmed to have been that of missing Harvey Parker. Unfortunately, while it does bring this case to a tragic close, it was the assumed and most likely option. After all, the CCTV suggested he’d gone into the water.
The RNLI were alerted to the discovery, having had a report that a body was found near the embankment.
At the time of writing this update, the police were compiling a report for the Coroner and the death is currently being treated as ‘unexplained’.
Sources used
