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Lana Purcell

Lana Purcell

Missing Date: 13/01/2011

Age: 26 at disappearance, would be 37

Location: Kentish Town, London

Lana disappeared in January 2011 when her daughter, Megan, was just six years old. The single mother was known to engage in sex work and drug use, which is believed by her family to be the reason her case was initially overlooked by police. Lana’s family booked her into a residential rehab facility in 2004 and it seemed that Lana was responding well, however it appears that she fell back into her drug addiction soon after having her daughter in 2005. The last time her family saw her was over Christmas 2010. Due to Lana’s drug habit, she sometimes fell out of touch with her family, however, two weeks into 2011, Lana’s flatmate told her father, John, that he should report Lana missing. A missing persons inquiry was only launched two months after her disappearance, meaning police lost the opportunity to access information that could pinpoint and last known location. In an interview with John and Megan in the Daily Mail, John said: “She was a lovely kid, playful, a little but mischievous but she was a beautiful kid. She’s never been nasty to anybody. She’s always been a good girl. She always had a really good life growing up… She was loved by both her parents, her nanny, her aunties and uncles, her brothers and sisters.” Lana is believed to have last been seen on 13 January 2011, possibly heading to the West End/Soho area of London.