THE niece of a man who has been missing for more than two months is desperately in need of the public’s help in finding her beloved uncle.
Derek Brant, 63, from Kidlington, was last seen at around 3pm on Saturday, July 24 near St Anne’s Annex, South Parade, Summertown.
Derek works at St Anne’s College in the maintenance team and his family believe he may have dementia after experiencing symptoms recently.
His niece Sadie Wilkinson has been spreading the word about his disappearance through posters and social media and has also been out with family to find him, but as time goes on has become increasingly worried.
The 30-year-old from Charlgrove, said: “It’s really sad. I speak to my mum everyday about it and it’s crazy how at first, we thought someone would walk by him and he’d just got lost because this has never happened before.
“He hadn’t actually been diagnosed with dementia yet, we had been taking him to the doctors as his work said he wasn’t noticing his own reflection and he had been getting confused. So we thought something’s not right.
“But as time has gone on you start to worry and think of the worst. We’re thinking, ‘Is he alive?’ ‘Could someone have taken him?’.”
She said: “He put me down at work as his next-of-kin so I feel I need to do my best for him. He lives on his own and doesn’t have a wife or children but is friendly with other people that live in the flats.
“He had a few learning difficulties but he’s a very happy person and he enjoys life."
The last time she saw her uncle – who is her mum’s brother – was a couple of weeks before he went missing when she took him to a hospital appointment.
She added: “It was nice because I hadn’t seen him for a few months but even though it was a hospital he said a few funny things that day and when he didn’t know what to say he looked at me for help.”
Niece of missing man Derek Brant speaks out
