Detectives have released new images of missing Richard Okorogheye as the teenager’s worried mother pleads for the public’s help.

The 19-year-old student was last seen over a week ago and is believed to have left his family home in the Ladbroke Grove area of west London on the evening of March 22.

His mother, Evidence Joel, previously said he was ‘struggling to cope’ with pressures at university and had been shielding during the Covid-19 lockdown.

As someone with sickle cell disease, Mr Okorogheye would only leave the house to go to hospital for regular blood transfusions for his condition.

She says he told her he was going to meet a friend but left without his jacket and his medication.

Ms Joel said she was heartbroken when a police officer told her: ‘If you can’t find your son, how do you expect police officers to find your son for you?’

The Metropolitan Police say the Oxford Brookes student left his home and headed in the direction of Ladbroke Grove on March 22 at approximately 8.30pm.

The last confirmed sighting of Mr Okorogheye was when he was seen boarding the 23 southbound bus in Ladbroke Grove at 8.44pm.

CCTV footage showed him wearing an all-black outfit and carrying across his lower back a black satchel-bag featuring a white Adidas logo.

Mr Okorogheye has been missing since March 22, New CCTV images have been issued in a bid to find the Oxford Brookes student.

Police said it was unknown at which stop Mr Okorogheye got off the bus, adding that he was known to frequent London’s Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham areas.

Ms Joel previously told the MyLondon website that her son had ‘never done anything like this’, adding: ‘Something has gone wrong.’

In a new statement issued on her behalf by police this evening, she said: ‘Richard we love you and miss you very much, please can you come home? We aren’t angry at you. We just want to know that you’re okay.

‘For anyone reading this, we are desperately missing our son. If you know anything or know where he might be, please come forward and speak to the police.’

Ms Joel previously told how she recalled her son saying he was going to visit a friend, telling her to drive safe and that he would ‘see me later’.

Mr Okorogheye‘s mother says he has ‘never done anything like this’ (Picture: Met Police) Mr Okorogheye was when he was seen boarding the 23 southbound bus in Ladbroke Grove at 8.44pm (Picture: Met Police) More: London

She returned home from a nursing shift at around 9pm and assumed he was in his room.

Ms Joel cooked him a meal but found he was not there when she knocked on his door and he did not answer his telephone.

The alarm was raised after a locksmith helped her gain entry to the room which was empty but Richard’s wallet, bus pass and bank card were left behind.

Detective chief Inspector Nicki Beecher, from the Met’s Area West Public Protection Unit, said: ‘Our officers are continuing to work around the clock to locate Richard and bring him home to his worried family.

‘We are keen to speak with anyone who may have been around Ladbroke Grove at the time of Richard’s last known sighting as captured above – you might be able to help us trace his next steps.

‘If you may have seen Richard, please contact police, no detail is too insignificant.

‘If Richard is safe and well, we ask him to contact us as a matter of urgency so that we can put his family’s minds at ease.’