Detectives say Owami Davies could be alive and sleeping rough in London.

The 24-year-old was last seen walking through Croydon, in the south of the city, on July 7.

Police confirmed they spoke with Owami the night before she was reported missing, but let her go.

Officers discovered the student nurse sleeping in a doorway on Clarendon Road in Croydon.

Owami had said she did not need help and was waiting on a friend.

She has no money left on her Oyster card, used to pay on public transport, and no access to her phone or bank cards, detectives say.

Investigators are working through 117 reported sightings of the 24-year-old, who had experienced periods of depression in the past for which she needed medical treatment, and had also used alcohol to deal with the condition.

Officers said that she had used different names, but have not yet revealed what they were.

Five people have been arrested and bailed in connection with her disappearance – two on suspicion of murder and three on suspicion of kidnap – but police say there is no evidence that she has come to harm.

During a briefing with journalists today, Detective Chief Inspector Nigel Penney said: ‘There is no evidence that she’s come to harm.

‘We’re still hopeful that we’ll find her alive and well.’

Asked whether she could be sleeping rough, he said: ‘We’re open to all possibilities and that is one current working hypothesis, that she is in that current situation with her life.’

Ms Davies left her home in Grays, Essex, on July 4 and was reported missing to Essex Police two days later.

The Metropolitan Police officers who spoke to her on July 6 did not yet know that she was a missing person.

Mr Penney said: ‘On Wednesday July 6, officers were called to the Clarendon Road area of Croydon.

‘There were concerns for the welfare of a woman at the location.

‘Officers attended and called the London Ambulance Service, but the woman stated she did not want assistance and left.’

Her family and members of an Independent Advisory Group have seen body worn camera footage of the interaction, but it will not yet be released publicly.

Watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct is considering whether to investigate the police contact with Ms Davies that day.

The missing persons investigation was passed to the Metropolitan Police from Essex Police on July 23, and taken over by the Specialist Crime squad on August 1.

Around 50 officers are currently working on the investigation, and they are getting advice from the National Crime Agency.

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