Roughly 170,000 people are reported missing in the UK every year
Most return, with 80% of adults and 75% of children being found within 24 hours, according to Missing People, a charity helping to reconnect missing people and their loved ones. But around 5,300 people had been missing for more than a year by the end of March 2020. Roughly 1,700 of those were children.
Among them is David McCaig, a 13-year-old from Wallasey who kissed his mum goodbye, cycled to a French lesson and was never seen again. More than 50 years later, police have found no evidence of what happened to David and his case remains on file but inactive. Merseyside Police has two cases on file older than David's.
