Family's desperate plea as man is still missing four years after disappearing
A family has issued a new heartfelt plea for their son to get in touch four years after he went missing.
Ioannis Oikonomopoulos, aged 33 at the time, was last seen by his girlfriend at their flat in Ilford, London on 18 February 2020. He had moved to the UK from Greece two years earlier, and had found work as a lifeguard at a local swimming pool.
His family is now working with police and charity Missing People in a plea for any new information on his whereabouts. Ioannis is a Greek national who moved to London in 2019 after meeting his partner and choosing to move over and start a life with her. In Greece, Ioannis was a decorated beach lifeguard, and had saved many people from drowning in the sea.
When he moved to London, he got a job at a local pool - but quickly found that it was not the same job he had whilst in Greece, and described feeling more like a ‘cleaner’ than a lifeguard. Alongside this, he also struggled to fit into life in London, as he struggled with learning English and making any friends. In the period before he went missing, Ioannis spent his time at their flat in Ilford getting drunk and watching Greek TV programmes, his family said.
This led his girlfriend to make contact with his family in Greece. His mother, who has a fear of flying, asked her sister to travel to London to help him, though Ioannis expressed his concerns about the visit as he didn't want his aunt to see him struggling.
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On 18 February 2020, Ioannis’ girlfriend left for work. When she returned home, Ioannis was gone. The front door had been left open and all Ioannis’ belongings were inside. CCTV footage found Ioannis walking away from the flat at 2pm with only one shoe on his right foot. His left foot was completely bare.
This is the last known footage of Ioannis, with no trace of life since. Police say he walked east from their home on Eastern Avenue East, on the A12, towards King George’s Hospital in Ilford, but there has been no trace of him since.
At the time of his disappearance, Ioannis was described as white European and 5ft 9in. He had dark facial hair with a bald head. He was last seen wearing black sweatpants, a single white trainer on his right foot, a black jacket, and a blue hat.
Missing People’s Publicity Officer, Ndella Senghore, said: “If anyone has any information about Ioannis’s disappearance, they can contact Missing People’s helpline. Ioannis, if you are reading this, please get in touch. You can call us on 116 000 or email [email protected]. Our service is non-judgemental, confidential, and free thanks to support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery. We just want to provide you with the support you need and help you to be safe."
To help the search, members of the public can visit Ioannis’ appeal on the Missing People website. You can report a sighting, download his missing appeal as a poster, and share it as widely as possible via Facebook, Twitter, and in public spaces.
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