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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/13/facebook-helping-police-in-search-for-missing-teenager-arthur-heeler-frood
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| Facebook helping police in search for missing teenager Arthur Heeler-Frood | Facebook helping police in search for missing teenager Arthur Heeler-Frood |
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| Facebook is helping police try to find a grammar school boy who went missing after reading George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London. | Facebook is helping police try to find a grammar school boy who went missing after reading George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London. |
| Arthur Heeler-Frood, 15, disappeared from his home in rural Devon more than two months ago, leaving his parents a letter saying he was bored with his life, asking them not to try to find him and promising to be back within a year. | Arthur Heeler-Frood, 15, disappeared from his home in rural Devon more than two months ago, leaving his parents a letter saying he was bored with his life, asking them not to try to find him and promising to be back within a year. |
| Police forces across the country have been asked to look out for Arthur, and postal workers across the UK have joined the search for him. | Police forces across the country have been asked to look out for Arthur, and postal workers across the UK have joined the search for him. |
| Devon and Cornwall police and the boy’s parents, Caroline and Jeremy Heeler-Frood, have been anxious to get access to his Facebook account, believing it may hold clues over where he may be or who he may have made contact with before vanishing. | Devon and Cornwall police and the boy’s parents, Caroline and Jeremy Heeler-Frood, have been anxious to get access to his Facebook account, believing it may hold clues over where he may be or who he may have made contact with before vanishing. |
| Facebook has refused to comment directly on the case but is understood to be helping the police and the charity Missing People, which is also involved in the hunt. | Facebook has refused to comment directly on the case but is understood to be helping the police and the charity Missing People, which is also involved in the hunt. |
| The job of finding Arthur has been challenging partly because he left without a phone or any electronic equipment. He had £350 earned from a job washing up in a kitchen restaurant – as Orwell did in Paris. | The job of finding Arthur has been challenging partly because he left without a phone or any electronic equipment. He had £350 earned from a job washing up in a kitchen restaurant – as Orwell did in Paris. |
| Devon and Cornwall police are working on fresh leads after his parents made emotional appeals at the end of last week but have not given details. | |
| Speaking to the Guardian, Caroline Heeler-Frood said Arthur was an idealistic boy who liked the idea of adventure and may have been inspired by his older siblings, who had both travelled around Europe. | |
| But she said he had grown up in the country and was not streetwise. “He was bright and had a strong interest in current affairs and politics,” she said. | But she said he had grown up in the country and was not streetwise. “He was bright and had a strong interest in current affairs and politics,” she said. |
| “He was adventurous. He enjoyed all the Bear Grylls survival challenge programmes. For the last two summers his brother, Reuben, has hitchhiked across Europe. He travelled extensively into eastern Europe. His sister, Hester, went inter-railing. I think he was inspired by all that. We think that he felt he wanted his own adventure.” | “He was adventurous. He enjoyed all the Bear Grylls survival challenge programmes. For the last two summers his brother, Reuben, has hitchhiked across Europe. He travelled extensively into eastern Europe. His sister, Hester, went inter-railing. I think he was inspired by all that. We think that he felt he wanted his own adventure.” |
| Arthur was an avid reader, his mother said. “The book he was reading before he left was Down and Out in Paris and London. You wonder if that had been influence. He was reading on a Kindle, which he left behind. | |
| “The police have asked us if it is possible he jumped on the back of a lorry. We can’t rule out that possibility. He would have been following what was going on with refugees in Europe.” | “The police have asked us if it is possible he jumped on the back of a lorry. We can’t rule out that possibility. He would have been following what was going on with refugees in Europe.” |
| Arthur has not been seen since he left for Colyton grammar school on his bicycle at 7.30am on Tuesday 6 September. His last words to his mother were: “Don’t worry, I’ve got my fluorescent.” | Arthur has not been seen since he left for Colyton grammar school on his bicycle at 7.30am on Tuesday 6 September. His last words to his mother were: “Don’t worry, I’ve got my fluorescent.” |
| The next day a letter arrived in the post. It said: “To Mum and Dad, I have run away because I am bored of my life. Please do not try to find me or make me come home. | The next day a letter arrived in the post. It said: “To Mum and Dad, I have run away because I am bored of my life. Please do not try to find me or make me come home. |
| “I don’t know how long I will be away for but it won’t be longer than a year. You will find my school uniform in a bin bag in a small barn in the field on the green down the road near Membury church. My bike is chained to the fence. | “I don’t know how long I will be away for but it won’t be longer than a year. You will find my school uniform in a bin bag in a small barn in the field on the green down the road near Membury church. My bike is chained to the fence. |
| “Please apologise to the restaurant and tell them that I will no longer be able to work there. I know you will be upset but please understand that I have to do this, from Arthur.” The letter had been posted in Devon. | “Please apologise to the restaurant and tell them that I will no longer be able to work there. I know you will be upset but please understand that I have to do this, from Arthur.” The letter had been posted in Devon. |
| Caroline Heeler-Frood said: “We have no idea what’s happened to him. He left with very little. His letter shows his departure was well-planned but he took very little with him. That gives us very little indication of what he had in mind or how he hoped to survive. We don’t know if he had a clear objective in mind or was just going to go whichever way the wind took him.” | |
| Arthur is described as white, 5ft 4in tall, of slight build, with short, light brown hair. Arthur may now have considerably shorter hair, possibly shaven. | Arthur is described as white, 5ft 4in tall, of slight build, with short, light brown hair. Arthur may now have considerably shorter hair, possibly shaven. |
| • Anyone with information should contact police by calling 101 or emailing 101@dc.police.uk quoting log 255 of 14 September. | • Anyone with information should contact police by calling 101 or emailing 101@dc.police.uk quoting log 255 of 14 September. |