Was this a prank call or a young woman in distress?

28 replies

Mixidoo · 11/06/2022 10:10

I was awoken by a phone call last night at 3:30am. It was a mobile number I didn’t recognise and a young English woman (teenager?) sounding very distressed.

She kept calling me mum, she was very upset and said she’d been out with her friends and just wanted to come home. She wouldn’t answer my questions, although I don’t think it was a recording. She then said a man had followed her into the toilets. DH said it was a prank/scam and I hung up, she then called back and still wouldn’t answer me.

I got worried and hung up and called 999 and said she sounded like she was in trouble. They said they’d try to locate her. I didn’t sleep well at all and called 101 to chase it up this morning, they said they’d located her and her local police had been involved.

looking at the number this morning it’s the same as mine, only the last four digits are in a slightly different order… Was it a prank, someone mentally unwell or a young woman in genuine trouble? Really shaken by it.

OP posts:

ChagSameachDoreen · 11/06/2022 16:58

MNettersForNoahAndFiona · 11/06/2022 11:11

None of us can know the truth in this situation OP, but you did the right thing calling 999 in the circumstances you describe. It's important not to dismiss things like that as 'a prank'.

Witnesses - mothers - who saw this boy naked in their street say they dismissed it as 'a prank'. If they had intervened, gone to help him and/or just immediately called 999, he would almost certainly still be alive today. Instead, his naked body was found 6 days later in a storm drain:
mobile.twitter.com/MarymoBelfast/status/1370453351616425985

Later this month, it will be 2 years since young Noah Donohoe disappeared from that street. His mother Fiona Donohoe is still having to fight for the truth about how, why and even when her beloved and only child died, and for justice for him. The police have applied for 4 files from their deeply flawed investigation to be kept secret and this has been supported by the coroner involved. Brandon Lewis, (Conservative MP for Great Yarmouth and Northern Ireland Secretary) is the government minister who has the power to grant or deny the application for secrecy. It is unfortunately likely that he will grant it, and soon, as the next hearing in the coroners court is 1 July. If anyone reading would like to help this grieving mother, links to Mumsnet threads and to her petition on Change can be easily found on this Mumsnet thread here:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/petitions_noticeboard/4525759--THREAD-2-Will-you-spare-five-minutes-to-help-the-lovely-Noah-Donohoe-get-the-justice-he-deserves-and-to-support-his-mummy-Fiona-in-getting-the-truth-about-what-happened-to-her-beloved-son
At the very least, please will you consider joining the 307,148 who have already signed his mother's petition against the files being kept secret? Thank you.

Don't hijack other people's threads with this. I know it's dear to your heart but it isn't appropriate to do this.

MNettersForNoahAndFiona · 11/06/2022 18:45

Mixidoo · 11/06/2022 14:27

@MNettersForNoahAndFiona how awful, I’ll sign.

Thank you OP.

MNettersForNoahAndFiona · 11/06/2022 18:54

Mixidoo · 11/06/2022 16:44

Update - this has been playing on my mind all day. I called the police on 101 again as was concerned incase it was a scam, a weird prank or if it was genuine wanted to know if she was ok. The call handler was really helpful, said that it wasn’t a scam, that the police had managed to speak to the woman and her local police are following it up. Phew.

I think it would have played on my mind too, OP. Well done for wanting to help a stranger, following your instincts and being one of the good guys. You'll never know what you might have prevented last night or how else you might have helped that young woman with your actions. Too many people look the other way.

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