Parents of missing music student Harvey Parker plead: ‘We just want him back for Christmas’

The parents of a gifted music student who went missing after a night out in London have said they “just want him back for Christmas”.

Harvey Parker, 20, was last seen alone in the early hours of Friday morning leaving Heaven nightclub by Charing Crossrailway station.

CCTV footage from around 2.15am captured him entering nearby Craven Street and walking south towards the Embankment. Calls to his mobile phone have gone unanswered and and the Metropolitan police have now said that they are conducting a search of the river Thames.

In a statement, police said: “The search is being conducted on the river following a review of CCTV in the area that indicates that Harvey may have entered the water near the Golden Jubilee Bridge. At this stage of the investigation there is nothing to suggest that there is any third party involvement.”

Mr Parker’s mother Amanda Armstrong described him as a “lovely sweet friendly music-loving clubbing-loving young man”. Speaking to BBC London news on Tuesday she pleaded: “We just want him back for Christmas, we just want him back.”

She added: “He has high-functioning autism so he’s really fun to be around but he may not be receiving information or making the same of it as others do, which makes him vulnerable in certain situations.”

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Mr Parker’s step-father Michael Armstrong said that initially the family “had things to do to track him down” but now they are just waiting desperately for any news. He said: “Now we don’t know what is happening really.”

Ms Armstrong added: “Harvey if you see this please come home. If anyone has any information please can you just share it with the police.”

Jeremy Joseph, the owner of G-A-Y nightclub, issued an appeal on Wednesday to Londoners to “look at [Harvey’s] picture and watch out for” him.

He said: “It’s so upsetting, so frightening for someone to go missing and not to be able to be found yet. It’s shocking to me with the CCTV that we have. So just that everybody is, they can look on social media. Look at his picture and just watch out for him because that would be the best Christmas present in the world.”

Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE, Artistic Director of the Chineke! Foundation, met Mr Parker when he was a young teenager and he came to audition for the Chineke! Junior orchestra.

She told The Independent: “I first came across him when he wrote to me asking to do an audition at around the age of 14/15.

“I think he was the first and only Chineke! Junior auditionee to arrive on their own. He had come all the way from South East London to West London as a young teenager so I immediately thought that he was of independent spirit.”

Having grown up in London, Harvey Parker is very able to make his way independently around the capital.

Ms Nwanoku added: “He is used to London and he trusts London as it is his home. Harvey has wonderful big eyes, and due to his young, innocent, sensitive and vulnerable appearance it’s possible that he could be taken advantage of.”

Harvey Parker’s former housemaster, Tom Edlin, said his old pupil was “kind, gentle and hugely popular”. He described him as a “brilliantly talented musician who played the flute in the school orchestra and the organ for many school occasions and sang in the chamber choir, and who co-founded the music society’s lunchtime recital programme.”

Detective Chief Inspector Lucy O’Connor, from Central South Safeguarding Unit, said: “We are doing all we can to find Harvey, and working closely with our colleagues in the Marine Policing Unit. We are keeping Harvey’s family fully informed of any developments; and the thoughts of my colleagues and I are with them at this distressing time. We would also ask that media avoid any speculation while the enquiry continues.”