Owen Harding

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

sussex-police

Missing From:

Saltdean, East Sussex

Summary:

Owen Harding, born 13 May 2003, was a 16-year-old British teenager who disappeared from Saltdean, England on 26 March 2020. He was struggling with the prospect of not being able to see his girlfriend, who lived 280 miles away in Pocklington, Yorkshire, due to the country being put on lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic. Nothing has been heard from him since his disappearance.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Harding and his mother had an argument shortly before he went missing, which was around 6pm on 26 March 2020. After the argument, Harding left the family home that evening, heading to Telscombe where he intended to watch the sunset, according to his mother, Stella. Pictures published by Sussex Police show Owen walking away from his home on the day he disappeared. The force said he walked south along Bannings Vale at about 18:50 GMT, and may have turned into Hamsey Road. His girlfriend disclosed she spoke to Harding on her phone at the time he was heading towards the cliffs. Harding was unable to be reached on his phone from around 6:23pm. Sussex Police said he has not been in touch with any friends or family since leaving home.

Additional Details:

Owen went to Varndean College and was in his first year of sixth form at Varndean College in Brighton after achieving seven GCSEs from The Brighton Waldorf School. He played football for the local team Woodingdean Wanderers, travelling to tournaments and winning a local cup final. He was a strong swimmer, keen scuba diver, and had qualified as a lifeguard. He was looking at swimming teacher courses and wanted to learn to drive to get skills that would help go travelling in Australia when he left school. Owen's father died in November 2018. CCTV footage released from Sussex Police revealed two people whom officers urged to come forward as they believed it was possible that they may have witnessed something that day which could help them with their inquiries. CCTV footage revealed that Harding was walking directly towards a path along the side of the cliffs. Simon Boxall, an oceanographer, has estimated that due to the weather conditions on that day, and the fact that the tide was low, it was likely a body would have been carried out to sea. Alasdair Henry, the detective chief inspector who was investigating Harding's disappearance, released information concerning Harding's phone and the possibility of it being in Bromley or the West Wickham part of London. However, no further lines of enquiry have been established following appeals and there have been no confirmed sightings of him since he was last seen on the cliff top alongside the A259 in Saltdean by two people last March. Searches extended along the coastline as far east as Dungeness in Kent and following the advice of an oceanographer from the University of Southampton, colleagues across the Channel were alerted. Harding's mother, Stella, appeared on the Channel 4 documentary The Year Britain Stopped. She believes that if it were not for the first lockdown back in 2020, her son would probably still be here today. Family and friends of 16 year old Owen Harding came together for a candle-lit march through Seaford. The teenager went missing in the first days of the first lockdown - five years ago.

Case Last Updated:

Aug 27, 2026