Mum Criticizes Ineffective Police After Son’s Body Remains Undiscovered in Van for Nearly a Week

In a heart-wrenching incident, a mother has expressed her dismay at the police’s failure to act promptly after her son’s body was left undiscovered in his van for six days at a BP petrol station in east London. Don Shepherd, last spotted on CCTV parking his van at the BP station on Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, on February 11, was found deceased only on February 17, despite his mother Liz Shepherd’s repeated alerts to the police regarding his disappearance.

Liz Shepherd, a retired British Airways hostess, recounted her futile attempts to get the police to locate her son, who was diabetic and in poor health before his untimely death. Despite providing the police with crucial information, including the last known location and the registration number of Don’s van, and the fact that the petrol station staff had also reported the suspiciously parked vehicle, the police’s delayed response led to a tragic delay in discovering Don Shepherd.

The situation escalated when emergency services had to forcefully open the van with Don’s body inside, confirmed by the Met Police and pronounced dead at the scene by the London Ambulance Service. The postmortem revealed that Mr. Shepherd had suffered a heart attack. Amidst her grief, Liz Shepherd has criticized the police’s negligence and the impact it has had on her family, calling the oversight “shameful” and “heartbreaking.”

The incident has raised serious questions about the effectiveness of police procedures in responding to missing persons reports, especially in situations indicating potential health crises. The Met Police, while stating that the death is not being treated as suspicious, has yet to provide a comprehensive response to the criticism.