Search for missing Harrogate man, Graham Roskell – November 2012
IRC was contacted by the Bronze Commander for the incident who stated that he would like us to get a team together on standby for Wednesday (14th) and Thursday (15th) with the possibility of continuing as long as we could.
This message was relayed to the Northern Region Coordinator who contacted several members to go on standby.
IRC was later contacted by the Silver Commander who stated that we would definitely be required and wanted to know a lot more of our capabilities – which were explained in lots of detail as to what we are able to do for him and that of the family of the missing man.
A call came back the following day asking that we could attend the incident on the Wednesday and specifically that a member attend Harrogate Police Station for a briefing at 07:00hrs with the rest of the team ready to start the search at Kirk Hammerton, North Yorkshire – at 08:00hrs.
14th November 2012
On arrival we were told that the missing man had left hospital half way through his medical treatment on the 3rd November. He had left a trail of scent for over 15 miles from the hospital before it had disappeared and that they would be utilising our skills in searching in and around a 300 metre radius of his home as sightings had been noted in the area.
At around 07:30 hrs we headed off to the village and met up with the fourth member of the team for the day where we had another brief by a Police Inspector and we were put into task teams.
Our task was to work in half of the dedicated search radius, looking at anything out of the ordinary in the fields, woods and any out buildings around the area. Other police teams were tasked with searching inside the village in the homes, garages and sheds.
We were joined by a police constable in our team which was a valuable asset and good insight for both us and him into what each organisation does and knows. This was later discussed at a debriefing with the Bronze Commander.
Our search continued throughout the morning until we heard over the radio at 11:40, that a body had been found away from the area. The person found was described over the radio as an elderly male with grey hair and wrapped in a dressing Gown. This was a description that was given to us earlier in the day, one that was also given out throughout the media.
At 12:30, we were stood down. We said our goodbyes as some members of the team had a long journey to get back to their respectful homes both in Scotland and the South of England.
The local members went to have a word with the Police Inspector, who was very happy with the service and professionalism that we had shown in the search and after quite a long discussion was happy to want to use our team in future work.
Team
John Anderson (Team Leader)
Dean Mills
Alistair Brown
James Perry
Julie Ryan
Other members on standby if required for a further day searching:
John Wilkinson
Ray Gray
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