POLICE investigating the disappearance of missing Thurrock student nurse Owami Davies say they still believe she might be found alive.

The news comes after a service was held by the chaplaincies of King's College London and Guys and St Thomas' Hospital where she was studying.

Ms Davies, 24, from Chafford Hundred, has been missing since she left her home on 4 July – though she was quizzed by police in London two days later after they were alerted by concerned residents about a woman who was sleeping in a Croydon doorway.

During a briefing with journalists on Monday (22 August), Det Ch Insp Nigel Penney from the Met Police was asked if it was realistic to still believe Ms Davies was still alive.

He said they were 'hopeful', but had "grave concerns" over her not being sighted for so long, though he added: "There is no evidence that she's come to harm. We're still hopeful that we'll find her alive and well."

Two days after she left home on 4 July, her disappearance was reported to Essex Police.

The Metropolitan Police officers who spoke to her on 6 July did not yet know that she was a missing person.

Police have CCTV showing her entering West Croydon station on 6 July and said she had gone to Croydon, a place she didn't know well, to meet a friend, but not managed to do this.

Officers have spoken to that friend, and have searched the house she went to visit.

Police continue to trawl footage for 117 reported sightings of Ms Davies, who had experienced periods of depression.

Owami Davies.

Detectives say the 24-year-old has no money left on her Oyster card, used to pay on public transport, and no access to her phone or bank cards.

She was found asleep in a doorway in Clarendon Road, Croydon on 6 July while waiting for a friend, but told Metropolitan Police officers that she did not need help and left.

Asked whether she could be sleeping rough, Det Ch Insp Penney said: "We're open to all possibilities and that is one current working hypothesis, that she is in that current situation with her life."

Det Ch Insp Penney did not rule out that someone could be exploiting her, telling journalists 'that is a line of enquiry'.

Essex Police initially graded Owami as a medium risk but she was classed as a "high risk" case when she was referred to the Met.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IPOC), is considering whether to investigate the police contact with Ms Davies that day.

The missing persons investigation was passed to the Metropolitan Police from Essex Police on 23 July, and taken over by the Specialist Crime squad on 1 August.

Five people have been arrested and bailed in connection with her disappearance - two on suspicion of murder and three on suspicion of kidnap - but the Met has said there was no evidence that she had come to harm.