ABOUT 210,000 PEOPLE ARE REPORTED MISSING IN THE UK EACH YEAR

Craig Hetherington, 24

Missing since February 22 2003

Andrew Dill, 39

Missing since April 26 2003

Patricia Duncan, 52

Missing since November 15 2002

Each missing person means more and more addresses being held by the National Missing Persons Helpline.

Each missing person case record can generate as many as ten or even more addresses.

“Addresses are fundamental to everything we do,” says Sophie Woodforde, Computing Department Manager at the National Missing Persons Helpline, which is based in East Sheen, SW London. “The more accurate they are the more chance we have of tracing missing people.

“Whenever we are contacted by anyone about a missing person, it is always a distress situation. People do not always know their correct addresses or are able to give them.

“Similarly the missing people themselves. If they contact us by phone they are not always able to say exactly where they are.

“Again the same applies to sightings. Somebody could telephone us and say they saw a missing person in a boarding house or a hotel. They might know the street. They might not. They almost certainly won’t know the postcode.

“Hopewiser will help us fill in all the gaps. They will help us ensure we have all the address information we need.”

Says Sophie Woodforde, who started working with the Helpline as a volunteer before heading up their computer department full time, “Hopewiser enable us to be much more efficient in the way we handle our data.

“As a charity our resources are limited, Hopewiser also help us to make better use of our resources.

“It plays a big part in helping us find people and putting families together again.”

In addition to the main missing persons database, the Helpline which provides its services free of charge, also holds

“We probably mail over 40,000 pieces every year,” says Sophie Woodforde. “Hopewiser’s software is also a big help in ensuring the maximum accuracy of all those addresses as well.”

The National Missing Persons Helpline was started in 1993 by two sisters, Mary Asprey and Janet Newman.

Today it has over 70 staff and more than 140 unpaid volunteers. It has the most detailed ‘missing’ database in the country. As well as working closely with the family of the missing person, it also liaises with the police, social workers, hospitals, care homes, foster homes, as well as various international organisations.

All its work is confidential.

Says Sophie Woodforde, “We talk to the missing person in confidence. We talk to the families in confidence. We never put them directly in touch with each other. They can write to each other care of us. They can telephone each other. If both sides want to meet each other, we let them make their own arrangements.”

“We are very pleased with all the help we have received. Hopewiser was the pioneer of address management software. We are certainly benefiting from their in-depth knowledge and wide experience.”