Yahoo News Missing Dillon Duffy, 18, found safe and with his dad in London hotel ahead of return home
A teenager who went missing has been found safe and well and is with his dad in a London hotel ahead of a return home to Oldham, his mum confirmed today. Donna Duffy said: "To hear my boy's voice was the best feeling in the world."
Her son Dillon, 18, went missing on June 18, sparking huge search efforts in London after he caught a train from Manchester Piccadilly to Stoke, then onto Euston in the capital - 200 miles from home.
It also led to an outpouring of support for the family from Chadderton, with Facebook groups set up and appeals shared on social media after Dillon left behind a note. On Saturday, Dillon's mum Donna confirmed to the Manchester Evening News that he was safe and with his dad in a hotel in London.
She said he would be returning home later today. "It's truly amazing," Donna told the M.E.N. "I am truly relieved and so grateful for everyone's support."
Donna posted the news on the Help Find Dillon Duffy Facebook group on Friday night, revealing Dillon himself had 'reached out' and posted on the group.
She posted: "What Dillon has done is amazing. He had the confidence to reach out and tell his own story. Immediately, I just wanted to find him. Everyone was frantically trying to get hold of him. Eventually I spoke to him, it was Dillon his voice and it broke me.
"To hear my boy's voice was the best feeling in the world. I stayed on the phone until his dad reached his location. Then I heard in the background, Dillon, Dillon! His dad was with him, he was safe."
Donna said the past 10 days had been 'hell'.
But she said: "What I have learnt is that there is so much kindness in the world. So much love that other people have to share and that's what brought him back, that's what brought him home. Without this group Dillon may of never reached out and I am so lucky that he did. From the bottom of my heart I am truly grateful to every single person who never gave up, who shared a post, who shared a poster, who went out looking and who always thought the best of him.
"I thank you, I thank all of you so much. Never give up, never stop believing and always have hope."
Donna previously said she was 'worried sick' after Dillon went missing on Tuesday, June 18. She said she dropped him off close to the Asda supermarket on Milne Street in Chadderton at around 8am and that he was supposed to go to work from there - but never showed up.
The teen's phone then 'pinged' at Manchester Piccadilly railway station later that day, and it emerged he went to London.
Dillon's disappearance was reported to both the Metropolitan Police in London and Greater Manchester Police.
