Student on homeless project disappears

Police say they are "extremely concerned" for the safety of a 19-year-old university student who disappeared while interviewing homeless people as part of a project for her degree.

Victoria Stephenson, a first-year student at Manchester Metropolitan University, was last seen at 12.30pm on Tuesday leaving the Didsbury campus to catch a bus into Manchester city centre. Her task for an Applied Community Studies degree project was to find an individual aged over 50 who had led "a full life".

She sent a text message at 1pm to a friend whom she was planning to see at 4pm. She never arrived. At a news conference at Longsight police station, close to the halls of residence where Ms Stephenson lives, Detective Superintendent Peter Minshall said yesterday that the teenager had gone against university advice and travelled alone. He described her as a "friendly, approachable girl" who was known for her generosity towards homeless people.

"Her friends say it may be the case that she had spoken to homeless people on previous occasions and may have had in her own mind an idea of someone to go back and see," said Mr Minshall. He made a specific plea to homeless people living in Manchester city centre to come forward if they had seen Ms Stephenson.

Ms Stephenson has no history of going missing before and has made a number of close friends since joining the university, staying in regular contact with them via her mobile phone. She was last seen wearing a knee-length, maroon leather jacket.

A university spokesman said Ms Stephenson was well-liked. "Fingers crossed, she will turn up safely,'' he said. "But we are extremely concerned because it is a sudden disappearance which is totally out of character.''

Ms Stephenson was due to return home to the West Norwood area of south London today by taking a lift with some of her university friends.