Torso case exposes huge number of missing boys

Hundreds of young African boys have disappeared from schools in London, police investigating the murder of a young boy whose torso was found in the River Thames said yesterday.

Detectives fear many were used by adults involved in benefit fraud. The disappearance of the children was discovered by detectives during inquiries into the case of the torso, called Adam by police, found in the river near Tower Bridge in September 2001.

To try to identify Adam, believed to be the victim of a ritualistic killing, police asked every education authority in London how many black boys aged between 4 and 7 had disappeared from school records.

In one three-month period between July and September 2001, about 300 children were found to have disappeared. All, apart from one Caribbean child, were from Africa, and police were only able to track down two of them. In most cases, police were told the boys had returned to Africa, but follow-up inquiries were fruitless.

Police do not believe it likely Adam was among them since they found he only spent two months in the country before his death and may not have attended school.

The investigation into Adam's death has been one of the most wide-ranging and unusual conducted by the Metropolitan Police.

Detectives have established Adam came from Nigeria, because the indigenous and highly poisonous calabar bean was found in his intestine. They think that it might have been used to subdue him before his death. Crushed bone and clay pellets impregnated with gold and quartz were also found.

No-one has been charged with Adam's murder, but many people have been questioned, including one man, Kingsley Ojo, 35, from east London, who was convicted of involvement with child traffickinglast year.

Ojo was closely associated with a woman who had clothes in her flat believed to have come from the same shop in Germany as the orange shorts found on the torso.

A German man, who was arrested in Dublin after being convicted in his absence of passport offences in his own country, has also been questioned by police.

Child welfare experts and police believe many African children go to live with relatives in Britain.

Although many are there legitimately, many others are said to be brought in to allow extra benefits to be claimed, and are sometimes passed from one adult to another and have to endure domestic slavery and sexual abuse.

Britain has no regulations governing the private fostering of children in this way, although, local authorities are supposed to be notified by someone caring for a child.

Felicity Collier, chief executive of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering, said the problem was already underground and called for tighter controls.

"We would not accept this as a society if these were white children - we have to have a law in this country that says that private foster carers have to register."

- INDEPENDENT