West Midlands Police officers praised for helping find ‘missing’ Leeds man in Spain
PC Lamb and PC Somers interrupted their holiday to help local police.
Two West Midlands Police officers have been praised for interrupting their holiday to liaise with Spanish police in the search for a missing British man.
PC Lamb and PC Somers, who are based in Birmingham, were in Barcelona last month when they got chatting to a man known as “Little Mick” in a bar.
Unbeknown to them at the time, an international search was underway to find him, after his family had reported him missing from Leeds.
It was only later, when our officers saw social media posts about the search – they identified who they had been talking to.
They acted quickly to inform the local authorities and liaised with local police in Barcelona, sharing the information they had in the hope that Mick could be put back in touch with his family.
He was – however, it transpired that Mick was unaware of the search for him and had simply lost his phone and hadn’t seen any of the coverage about himself online.
Now back from holiday and having their actions mentioned in national news coverage, our officers have been praised for their actions.
Birmingham Police Chief Inspector Sean Corrigan said: “The officers’ actions demonstrate our values as a police force, as even on holiday they acted quickly to help a potentially vulnerable man in need.
“By quickly recognising who they’d been speaking to, and immediately informing Spanish authorities, they helped end an international search.
“While the man involved may have just been enjoying a holiday himself, we commend our officers for interrupting theirs and going above and beyond.”