Police confirm body found in Epping Forest identified as Richard Okorogheye

Richard Okorogheye was a student at Oxford Brookes University. Picture: Okorogheye Family.

A BODY found in a lake in Epping Forest has been formally identified as missing 19-year-old Richard Okorogheye, the Metropolitan police have confirmed.

Essex police officers made the discovery on Monday. The Met said the student’s death is being treated as unexplained and they do not believe at this stage there was any third-party involvement.

Richard went missing after leaving the home he shared with his mother in the Ladbroke Grove area of west London on the evening of March 22.

He was a first-year business and IT student at Oxford Brookes University and had been shielding during the pandemic due to his sickle cell disease and only left the house to attend hospital appointments.

It was also reported that he was struggling to cope with the demands of his course. His family reported him missing two days after his disappearance.

Richard’s mother, Evidence Joel, told Sky News that she had been to the site where her son’s body was found to lay flowers.

She said: “It was a very uncomfortable place to be. I wouldn’t want to be there.

“My son that I know cannot walk into that darkness – no torch, no light. An hour and 30 minutes from where he was last seen. He must have guts to do that. He’s only 19.

“What could push him to go that far if he wasn’t meeting somebody?”

Investigators are continuing to look at the teenager’s computer and are searching the forest for his shoes, phone and bag which were not with his body when it was found.

Identifying the cause of Richard’s death is pending as further investigations are carried out.

However, detectives have said no evidence of physical trauma or assault has been found.

Ms Joel described her son as the “perfect child” and said she was “lucky” to be his mother.

“He will always be my baby and I will always be his mother and no one can take that away from me,” she said.

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