MUM'S AGONY OVER SON, 17, MISSING FOR MONTH

VOICING ISSUES Vandana and MP Jess Phillips

- BY JACKIE ANNETT

HEARTBROKEN mum Vandana Bhogowoth has spent every day of the past six weeks frantically searching for the son she lovingly calls her "boo".

Not long before he vanished, Deante Darell James would have been described as your average 17-year-old. He loved going to the gym and turning his hand to any sport going.

But in the weeks leading up to his disappearance, something was wrong. And on March 31 he left the family home without his phone or wallet - and never came back.

Three days later Deante was arrested at London Earl's Court tube station accused of providing false details when stopped for not paying his fare.

But instead of police bringing him home and ending Vandana's agony, they let him go because they did not realise he was a missing person.

Vandana, 36, says: "Why didn't it flag up to them that he was a missing person? He's underage, he's vulnerable and at risk. Police had hold of him and let him go. We could have had him home by now."

Deante's missing person's case was being handled by the Met Police, but it was British Transport Police who stopped him at Earl's Court. The Met investigation didn't flag up on the BTP database due to an inputting blunder - his name was in the Met's system the wrong way round.

Information falling through the cracks between different agencies is a problem that happens all too often, because there is no clear government plan for protection or support.