Leeds

Local man who went missing for a year found sleeping rough in Lapland

He is thought to have suffered a breakdown and that this was the impetus for his disappearance.

Georgina Pellant - 13th July 2021

After going missing for over a year, a local man who used to work in IT near Leeds has been found sleeping rough in Lapland

Nial Atkin went missing in mid-May 2020 from the Huddersfield area, having previously worked close to Leeds in a role with computers.

Until recently, it was believed by both his family and police that he may have travelled to Scotland following a breakdown.

However, it turns out the beleaguered Brit had managed to make it over 2,000 miles away from home - ending up in Lapland, of all places.

Last Friday, July 9, he was found by a man living in Kiruna, Sweden, who offered the rough sleeper a shower and a clean bed out of concern for his welfare.

Jerry Ahlqvist then took to Facebook to appeal for help to reunite the mysterious homeless Brit with his family, noting that the man was "acting a bit strange" and seemed "confused".

He said ‘I brought him home and cleaned him, gave him some food and new clothes, and a clean bed to sleep in.

‘He is kind of hard to communicate with, he gets lost in his thoughts, takes a long time to answer questions and he just stares into nothing.

‘He has told me some information about himself but he ends every sentence with ‘sort of’ so the information can also be incorrect.’

The post also mentioned Nial's name and that he used to work in an IT role near Leeds and that he was raised in West Yorkshire.

Later, Jerry also set up a Go Fund Me to help pay for flights to get Nial back home to England

It took Jerry some time to locate Nial's family, but finally, he managed to get in touch with his mum who was blown away to receive the message.

He then put a new post out which read: "UPDATE! We have found his mother and I have spoken with her on the phone."

"Everything will be sorted out.

"The thing is that Nial is in a psychotic state and he does not know what he wants or what’s best for him. But we will figure this out.

"His mother knows and understands because she has a psychiatric education and I know and understand because I have myself gone through treatment for schizophrenia and have suffered psychosis myself so I saw the signs from across the streets."

He added: "Everything will be okay and we will try to get the proper treatment for him!

"THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR ENGAGEMENT! We did it!"