Brisbane man missing for 16 years found in UK homeless shelter
An Australian man who went missing 16 years ago has been found alive in a homeless shelter in Milton Keynes in the UK.
Family and friends of Jason Ronald Douglas, 36, are now making arrangements to bring him home to Brisbane after raising funds online.
His sister, Lisa Andrews, had started a gofundme page to raise $2,5000, which they believed would be enough to get Mr Douglas home.
She said: “Jason has been missing for 16 very frustratingly long years. Jason is a australian born aboriginal. He is currently living in the uk in a homeless shelter. He has been homeless for a very long time.
“This is why it has taken so long to find him. He thought we all gave up on him. He thought no one cared.”
She said in order to bring him back to Australia, he needed a birth certificate, passport and flights, as well as support to keep him off the streets until he could be brought home.
Mr Douglas had not been in touch with his family for 16 years and disappeared age 21 whilst living in Milton Keynes.
A Facebook page called Help Us Find Jason Ronald Douglas has been operating since 2012 and has charted the family’s efforts to find him in that time.
In recent days, their search began bearing fruit when they discovered Jason had been arrested in 2014 in the West Midlands area, and again in 2016, which the family described as “the best lead we have had so far”.
Two days later, they had three UK agencies searching for Mr Douglas, who they then believed was homeless.
On Wednesday morning, their good news came and they posted this: “We found him. Jason has been found…”
“We have so much thanx for everyone who has helped up. 16 years and we have him.”
Mr Douglas' sister Sally told the Independent, her brother had cried during their first conversation but was then happy.
She said he had believed his family had forgotten about him.
“We spoke about a lot of things. Our childhood memories, and our lives now,” she said.
“He told me about the hard life that he has had since being there and how long it took to get any assistance financially, which resulted in him being homeless for such a long time.”
The family has been touched by the kindness of strangers during their search for Jason, as people quickly donated to raise the $2,500 and, after the total was reached, in helping Jason on the ground in the UK.
One social media user posted to Facebook that she lived a 30-minute bus ride from where Jason had been found and asked: “Can I help in anyway?”
The family also praised police in helping them find Mr Douglas.
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