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Finding Missing Persons in London: An Insight into Finding Lost Loved Ones

April 24, 2025 by pdldevv2 Leave a Comment

By London Missing Persons Investigator, Tim Boyd

Not long ago, I passed a local charity in central London and paused in front of a cluster of posters featuring missing people who had vanished.

It was a depressing sight and another stark reminder of just how many families are searching for loved ones who have disappeared.

Statistics from the charity Missing People reveal that “someone is reported missing every 90 seconds in the UK, amounting to over 170,000 people annually. If you consider the families and friends left behind, the issue affects approximately 2 million people in total each year.”

And with police resources routinely stretched, it’s a reminder of why the role of a Private Investigator in London is sometimes a family’s only hope when official avenues are exhausted.

Simple Request

Most people who contact us at PDL begin with a simple but harrowing request: “Can you help me find a missing person?”

Sometimes, they’re trying to reconnect with a long-lost sibling. Other times, they’re desperate to find a partner, child, or parent who’s abruptly dropped out of contact.

And that simple request – “Can you help me find a missing person?” – can often lead to a very tough challenge for investigators, especially if there’s no social media activity, no address records, or no recent sightings.

Tracing vs. Finding a Missing Person

To explain how we work at PDL, we find it helpful to distinguish clearly between ‘trace someone’ cases and true ‘missing person’ cases.

Tracing someone typically involves tracking people who may have changed addresses, jobs, or names. They still leave clues — like paper trails, employment records, or social activity.
Finding a missing person, however, means working with near-zero leads. They’ve disconnected deliberately, or something serious has occurred.

Why Aren’t All Cases Investigated by Police?

Unfortunately, not all missing person cases get the full attention they deserve. Police services are frequently stretched, and if there’s no indication of foul play or immediate danger, the case may not be prioritised.

That’s why many people turn to Private investigation services in London. At PDL, we’re experienced professionals with access to tools, databases, and techniques that the public does not. And often, that makes all the difference.

What are the issues/reasons involved in cases of missing persons? Some thoughts:

Mental Health and Vulnerability: Many missing person cases are deeply connected to mental health challenges. Individuals suffering from anxiety, depression, or other conditions may disappear without warning, often as a way of coping.

Estranged Family Members: Sometimes the person in question is a family member who simply want to cut ties. These cases often involve complex family emotions.

Legal and Inheritance Matters: Not all missing person cases are about emotional reunions. In some instances, individuals must be located for legal reasons, such as matters of inheritance, estate settlements, or serving legal documents. These cases require careful diligence and clear documentation, which our team is well-versed in providing.

Cross-Border Challenges: In an increasingly mobile world, some people simply disappear across borders for many reasons. Finding a missing person who has moved abroad – sometimes without leaving a clear trail – can be a major challenge.

A Real Cross-Border Case: Success after 20 Years Missing

One such cross-border challenge occurred when we recently helped a family from overseas locate a relative who had been missing for 20 years. The police had long given up. But after deep-dive investigative work – including cross-referencing dates of birth, following faint digital trails, and some classic fieldwork – we found the missing person. He’d amended his name slightly and relocated to England’s south coast, living quietly.

While the reunion was emotional and complex, the family finally had the answers they had yearned for. Happily, the missing person became a found loved one. It was certainly a touching moment for all of us who were involved.

Do You Need Help Finding Someone?

Whether you’re hoping to trace someone in London or launch a full-scale missing person investigation, please contact (PDL).

We combine expertise, dedication and compassion while knowing how to sensitively follow the faintest trail.

Contact us now

Is Your Employee Really Sick?

March 28, 2025 by pdldevv2 Leave a Comment

Why Employment Investigations are on the increase in the UK

By Lead London Investigator Peter Torley

The TV news is dominated by quite a few major global issues at the moment. But one issue we all may have missed recently focuses on a rapidly growing concern and one that is increasingly a part of our investigations here at Private Detective London.

The issue is Workplace Absenteeism. According to a recent Totaljobs report, this is now a growing and worrying trend for businesses in the UK with sick days having increased by a staggering 41% over the past three years.

As stated in the Totaljobs report: “This creates a damaging cycle, where absenteeism places extra strain on remaining staff, leading to heightened stress, burnout, and reduced productivity.”

The Main Employment Investigation Concerns

More and more employers are now contacting us concerning a few particular aspects of Absenteeism – namely long-term sickness, working while on sick leave, and the attempt to get reluctant employees back into the office after working from home due to Covid-19.

These employers are increasingly keen to investigate and weed out individual cases of flagrant absenteeism so that they can then move forward more confidently in their businesses, replenishing or re-allocating staff if appropriate.

When Sick Leave Begins to Look Suspicious

Of course, it’s entirely normal for employees to become sick from time to time and all businesses are well used to dealing with short, occasional absences.

But it sometimes gets increasingly worse than that for many businesses. Sometimes they will suspect that sickness is feigned and that the employee is simply enjoying frequent time off at their boss’s expense.

Worse still is the increasing tendency for us to be told by clients that they’ve heard rumours that a “sick” employee is actually working elsewhere!

When they ask us to investigate these reports, we often find out that the employee may be secretly earning money on the side – doing freelance work perhaps, running an online business, picking up cash-in-hand jobs, or even working for some other company entirely.

We have also uncovered grave instances where employees who are “out sick” have been found to have been stealing a firm’s intellectual property and client data in order to quietly set up their own business over time.

If that’s the case, a business owner must be very cautious in how they go about confronting an employee with their suspicions. Without proper, professional investigation, these situations can be difficult to prove and may – for example – leave businesses vulnerable to claims of intrusion and/or harassment.

Getting Back into the Office post-Covid

Another major challenge facing many of our business clients is the push to get staff back into the office. When the Covid-19 pandemic forced companies to adopt remote working, many employees got used to working from home. For some, it genuinely improved their work output. But for others, it simply became a way to blur the boundaries between home life and work.

Now that businesses are trying to return to more in-office work, resistance can sometimes be strong among the workforce. Some employees are simply refusing to return to the office, citing things such as stress, anxiety or some new “long-term illness.”

In some cases, of course, those concerns are real and should obviously be handled cautiously. But in others, it can be a convenient excuse to maintain a lifestyle that they don’t want to give up.

As a result, employers are torn between being understanding and sympathetic to the individual but also ensuring that no one is taking advantage of the system.

Other Workplace Investigations

Outside of the issue of sickness, we also continue to investigate many other common instances of employee misconduct.

Recent examples include those who were supposed to be out “in the field” or working remotely but not necessarily doing what they should be – or indeed being where they ought to be. In such suspected cases, we frequently use GPS trackers, lawfully and cost-effectively, to monitor employees over a long period to gain the necessary intelligence.

Professional

In all of these cases, it’s crucial to get a professional to investigate as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has strict guidelines on employee monitoring. Naturally, at Private Detective London, our team always operates within those guidelines – to the letter.

As seasoned workplace investigators, we ensure that every investigation is conducted ethically, discreetly, and in full compliance with data protection laws. The means of investigation usually covers procedures such as surveillance, public records analysis, monitoring of social media and so forth.

Why Work With Us?

With over 25 years of experience as Employment Law Investigators, Private Detective London helped scores of businesses uncover fraudulent sick leave claims and employee misconduct, thus saving them time, money, frustration and worry.

If you suspect an employee is taking advantage of your company, your first step should always be to get a trusted, Private Investigator to find out the truth for you.

Think you might have an absenteeism problem in your workplace? Get in touch with Private Detective London for a discreet consultation about all our Employers’ Investigative Services.

AI and the Modern Private Investigator

March 3, 2025 by pdldevv2 Leave a Comment

AI and the Modern Private Investigator

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, reshaping industries and revolutionising how businesses operate and deliver value to their clients. PDL’s Lead Investigator Peter Torley takes a look at its impact on Private Investigations.

I found myself watching the late News the other night and one piece in particular grabbed my attention. It was a report about a big AI Conference in Paris this month – global leaders, tech experts and a range of academics gathering to discuss AI’s evolution and its future implications.

Much of the excitement at the conference, said the News, would surround China’s DeepSeek, a groundbreaking new AI assistant shaking up the industry.

It was a timely news item for me because AI has been on my mind in recent times and – along with my colleagues here in our London office – we’ve been toying over its likely ongoing implications for the whole Private Investigation industry.

A game-changer?

Over the years, I’ve seen the world of private investigations evolve dramatically, and one of the biggest significant changes has certainly been artificial intelligence.

When I first started out in this line of work, the tools available were vastly different from what we have now. Today, AI has streamlined so many aspects of the job, making our work more efficient and – in some areas – more precise too. And while technology has always been part of our profession, the increased integration of AI has certainly taken things to a whole new level.

Some people even ask me if AI will ever replace private investigators entirely. The short answer is a definite No. But like everything else, it’s not a simple black-and-white situation.

Only part of the story

I remember when GPS trackers first became widely used – there was a lot of talk about how they would eliminate the need for physical surveillance. While GPS trackers are admittedly an incredible tool (allowing us to monitor locations with pinpoint accuracy and minimizing the risk of losing a subject) they only tell part of the story. After all, a tracker can tell you where someone has been, but it won’t tell you what they were doing or who they were with. That’s where physical surveillance remains invaluable.

The same applies to advances in remote surveillance technology. Back in 2012, we were already experimenting with unmanned camera systems that allowed us to monitor locations remotely. That was good – but there was a big issue, because reviewing the footage was incredibly time-consuming. In many cases, it was even more practical and cost-effective to have one of our investigators on-site.

Admittedly, today’s AI-enhanced security solutions are far more advanced, but even the best technology still requires a trained professional to interpret the data correctly. Off-the-shelf solutions are widely available, but at PDL we only use the best bespoke systems tailored to the specific needs of our clients.

One thing that hasn’t changed in my time in the industry, though, is the absolute importance of human testimony. Evidence from AI tools, GPS trackers or surveillance cameras can be incredibly useful, but at the end of the day it doesn’t replace the need for signed witness statements. As we always tell our clients and professional associates, data alone isn’t always enough – human verification remains essential for credibility in legal cases.

Security and Ethical Considerations

Of course, with the benefits of AI come some important security concerns. At PDL, we take privacy incredibly seriously, and we have strict Non-Disclosure Agreements in place for every aspect of our work, from our clients to our internal processes.

Any AI tools that we use, especially those that handle sensitive data, are carefully vetted by our team as we take the utmost precautions to protect our clients’ confidentiality at all times. That is – and always has been – central to PDL’s core ethical standards. This area certainly needs the human touch as the ethics cannot be handed over to a machine.

Practical AI Applications in Investigations

The term ‘artificial intelligence’ makes it sound like something futuristic, but in reality, it’s already embedded in much of our everyday work and many of us have been using AI for years without realising it – spell checkers, for example, or things like predictive text. The list is always growing.

A perfect example: I once had to analyse a document in French regarding property ownership. With no French-speaking colleague immediately available, I turned to a well-known AI-powered translation tool – you can probably guess which one. Within seconds, I had a clear summary of the document’s key points. It saved me considerable time and effort, but of course I still had to verify the translation in a more human way before relying on it as evidence.

AI has also enhanced PDL’s ability to conduct international investigations. With the right tools, we can now access intelligence databases, track down individuals, and gather background information more efficiently than ever before. Whether you consider an intelligence database an AI tool or not, the fact is that technology has made it significantly easier to find the information we need.

That being said, AI isn’t always perfect. We’ve evaluated various AI-driven report-writing tools, and the results have been somewhat mixed – because while AI can summarize data quickly, it doesn’t always get the details right. As accuracy is 100% critical in our field, AI-generated reports still require careful fact-checking – by humans! The last thing we want is for an automated system to unintentionally alter the truth.

The Bottom Line

AI is certainly a powerful asset in modern private investigations, but it’s just that – an asset, nothing more. Like other industries, it enhances our work, makes certain tasks more efficient, and provides valuable insights, but it doesn’t replace the need for skilled professional investigators. At the end of the day, our ability to analyse situations, interpret human behaviour, and make professional judgment calls is what truly sets good private investigators apart.

There’s no doubt that technology will continue to evolve, and we’ll keep integrating AI at PDL where it makes sense. But no matter how advanced AI becomes, the human element remains irreplaceable. And as long as that’s the case, private investigators will always have a job to do – professionally, efficiently and effectively.

Get in Touch

If you are seeking a professional Private Investigator in London or worldwide, we’d love you to get in touch.

Call me – Peter – anytime on +44(0)2037471865.

Hiding from the Camera: Why Private Detectives Operate Out of the Limelight

January 28, 2025 by pdldevv2 Leave a Comment

By Peter Torley, Lead Private Investigator: PDL, London

Clients come to private detectives because they need help solving complex, often personal problems. They’re not looking for flashy advertising; they’re seeking a professional investigator who will handle their case with care, discretion, and integrity.”

Rooted in trust

Unlike many other professions, where success stories and client testimonials can be freely shared, private investigators work in a profession rooted in trust and confidentiality.
Clients come to private investigators because they need help solving complex, often personal problems. They’re not looking for flashy advertising; they’re seeking a professional who will handle their case with care, discretion, and integrity.
As a result, sharing details of completed cases – even as a way to showcase our expertise – is off the table as ethical discretion is non-negotiable.

In the news

Inevitably, every so often, a journalist or two will request an interview with myself or a member of the team. We have developed a very stringent protocol for situations like these wherein we set out clearly the parameters for the interview and explain that there are many areas simply not open for discussion.

That means that when journalists come to conduct an interview – about, for example, a career as a Private Investigator – they often say at the end that they are just a teeny bit frustrated that we didn’t serve up any real details of the cases we conduct. The most they are ever likely to get from us is a very, very generalised mention of our success stories.

And as a leading Private Detective company in London, we do actually get a lot of these requests for interviews. Indeed, over the past few months, publications like the Virgin In-Flight Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, and several other newspapers have all carried features on our work and our comments on the work of PIs in general. (Here’s a brief mention we had in a prestigious mag – an occasion when, thankfully, we were just asked for advice on a specific topic.)

But the best PR we get really is of the quiet kind – the ‘word of mouth’ kind. Whether it’s corporate bodies telling colleagues about us, or individuals passing on our details to friends – those are the most valuable types of recommendations we get.

The Role of Reputation

Reputation, after all, is the cornerstone of a successful private investigation business. A strong track record of professionalism, combined with ethical conduct, often speaks louder than any marketing campaign.
The work of a private investigator therefore requires walking that fine line between confidentiality and visibility. By focusing on trust, reputation, and expertise, we attract clients while upholding the integrity that defines our profession.

A final word

If you are seeking professional, discreet assistance with a complex issue, feel free to reach out –confidentiality is of course absolutely guaranteed.
Call me anytime at +44(0)2037471865.

PDL | UK-based Global Investigation Services

January 9, 2025 by pdldevv2 Leave a Comment

By Peter Torley, Lead Global Investigator: PDL, Mayfair, London

As a Private Detective in the heart of London, conversations with strangers often start the same way. “Oh, you’re a detective? How fascinating! What’s it really like being a private eye?” Even more so when the International Investigations angle is involved.

The most recent instance was last month. An old friend had arranged for myself and some others to attend a big football game in London. While there, I got chatting to the gentleman on the other side of me at half-time – let’s say his name was ‘Paul’. Anyway, myself and ‘Paul’ got talking and the conversation veered to what line of work we were both involved in. He told me that he was a dentist – but quickly admitted that root canals didn’t leave much room for excitement.

Investigating abroad

It turned out that he was much more interested in my particular line of work as he had just seen a film about an American Private Investigator who had to come to London on a global investigation case. So he asked me if I ever got to investigate abroad, and he was genuinely keen to know exactly what it was like.
I wondered for a moment if he was seeking a career change. But no, he was just intrigued by the fact that one morning you get a phone call and later that evening you might end up working in Toronto, or Paris, or Hong Kong or… wherever.
I began by telling him that all Global Investigators based in London were in an excellent strategic position – geographically speaking – as we’re able to get the most out of any day. For example, we can be dealing with somewhere in the East, like Singapore, early in the morning and then consulting with New York in our afternoon, just as America is waking up. So our positioning is extremely fortuitous.

Agile thinking, extensive knowledge

‘Paul’ then said he imagined that a successful global investigator would need to be pretty quick-thinking.
I agreed. I told him that when we get that early morning call, you need to be up and at it straight away. For example, there might be a plane to catch, so decisions need to be made in an instant, sometimes with rather incomplete information from a client.
As it happened, our PDL office had just taken a call the previous week from someone who wanted to obtain information on a French citizen – not a million miles away geographically speaking, of course, but with totally different legislation in operation. So we quickly set expectations for the client, processed timescales, and informed them about French regulations – all of which comes from specific, granular knowledge that we’ve collectively built up over the years.
So the ability to quickly Assess, Adapt, and Act – all while keeping a cool head, of course – is crucial to the success of the many different types of International Investigations we undertake from our Mayfair base in London.
I also mentioned to ‘Paul’ that cultural awareness is critical, too. Investigating globally means respecting the laws and nuances of every place you go to. What works in London won’t necessarily cut it in Los Angeles or Latvia. So, to some degree, you’ve got to be an international lawyer or police officer, knowing different legal systems and local rules on things like data protection, etc, as well as understanding the ‘unspoken rules’ of each environment.

Global Investigation Services

We continued to chat about it on and off for the rest of the dreary 0-0 draw and, by the end of the game, ‘Paul’ seemed well pleased with what I had told him. But – as is always the case – on the way home I started thinking about other specific areas I could have mentioned, like:
How we increasingly use the very latest advances in technology. This means we can now do a lot in the office that we previously may have had to reach out to our global partners for. If we’re looking for someone in America or New Zealand, we can now do that in-house. This saves time for us and saves money for our clients!

How we increasingly use the very latest advances in technology. This means we can now do a lot in the office that we previously may have had to reach out to our global partners for. If we’re looking for someone in America or New Zealand, we can now do that in-house. This saves time for us and saves money for our clients!
Yet more instances include:
Cases we’ve had involving multinational businesses and Global Asset Tracing.
Finding missing persons in other countries, plus things like cross-border divorce investigations.
Collaborating with Foreign Private Detectives – partnerships that we’ve built up over many years.
Serving Documents on multiple offices of a global company with officers in various countries.
And the several corporate crises and family emergencies that we’ve solved abroad.

Yes, we’ve done all of those in recent times. Some days it will be a call from the States wondering if we can collaborate quickly with them on an urgent case. Other days – like a very recent example – it will be a call from Cyprus asking us to urgently follow a person who was on a flight landing in London imminently:
“Sure,” we said. “Which airport? And what time?”
They didn’t know.
So we quickly spoke to our PDL contact in Cyprus and had them conduct surveillance at both of the airports on the island. In that way, we were able to determine what flight our target was on and were then able to deploy our UK team to follow the person after they landed in Britain. After that little flurry of activity, it didn’t take very long until the job was completed successfully.
I think my new dentist acquaintance would have been impressed with that one. All done and dusted… practically in the time it takes to do an awkward root canal!

International Investigations for Private & Corporate Clients

Professional, Experienced & Friendly Services
Global Reach Plus Local Expertise
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How exactly do you judge the ‘Best Private Investigation Firm’?

September 21, 2024 by pdldevv2 Leave a Comment

If you’re reading this right now, there’s a very good chance that you’ve just searched for something like ‘the best private investigation firm in London or the UK’.

And, of course, if you do actually need to hire a private investigator, that’s precisely the sort of search term to use.

But will Google always serve up the ‘best private investigation firm’ for the specific issue you have on your mind?

Maybe. But then again, maybe not.

Let me explain.

In the world of private investigations, there are classic scenarios that – to all intents and purposes – appear to be similar. On the surface at least.

Missing persons, for example. Suspected infidelity. Counter-surveillance. Finding valuable stolen assets. Etc. Etc. They’re the bread and butter of the private investigator’s world – the sort of task any private investigator ought to be able to do in their sleep.

But when you dig deeper into some other less common scenarios, the more thought you may need to put into finding the best private investigator for that particular niche.

In other words, you may have to look for someone who specialises in the type of investigation you need.

Let’s be honest, though. The vast majority of private detectives out there, will have excellent reputations and will do a terrific job for you. And the chances are that they will all have enough of the relevant background experience to carry out the task in hand successfully.

Furthermore, of course, they’ll all have the discretion, integrity and resourcefulness needed to be successful in this profession in the first place.

However, it could be a little difficult for the average person to know exactly which investigator to pick when you want the ‘best detective’ for your particular case.

So, here’s some quick food for thought. When checking out who to choose, see if their experience ties in closely with what you need. Check their websites closely and see if any of their case studies resembles your particular scenario.

And here’s a little list that might be helpful. It’s the Top 10 ‘specialities’ that private investigators carry out. I hope it makes you aware of the types of investigations where proven experience is a big advantage right from the off.

For example, it may not be the case that the best ‘infidelity’ investigator will necessarily be the right person to follow up on ‘international corporate fraud’ concerns!

So, to wrap up, when you’re looking to find the best investigator for a particular issue, the very first investigator on the case may actually be you as you begin to check the various websites out there.

Hope your search is a fruitful one! Here’s that list I mentioned.

Background Checks – Private investigators can conduct thorough background checks, ranging from simple to complex, to uncover criminal history, previous aliases, or verify information provided during a job application or interview.
Bug Sweep & Detection/Counter-Surveillance – In this investigation, the investigator performs electronic and manual sweeps of specific areas to detect hidden recording devices or gps trackers.
Domestic – These investigators handle cases like child support or custody disputes, often employing surveillance techniques to gather evidence.
Due Diligence – Primarily for corporate clients, due diligence investigations are conducted to support business transactions and ensure informed decision-making.
Process Serving – This can often be a very crucial part of the legal process and typically involves ‘serving’ legal letters or court documents on individuals in cases where that ‘serving’ – and proof of it – is needed.
Financial – These investigators compile detailed financial background reports to provide insights into an individual’s or organisation’s financial history.
Fraud – Often working for companies such as insurance firms, fraud investigators specialize in uncovering instances of fraud where someone is attempting to obtain financial gain deceitfully.
Infidelity/Cheating Spouse – Classified as domestic investigations, these cases involve high-level surveillance to confirm whether a spouse or partner is engaging in extramarital activities.
International Investigations – Many private detective companies are asked to work on cases that cross country borders. This can be for many reasons and can involve complex issues regarding differing jurisdictions and legal processes. A proven international reach and trusted global network is recommended for this type of investigation.
Missing Persons/Locating People – Investigators use a range of methods to find missing persons or track down individuals who have intentionally left without a trace, aiming to determine their current location.

If you are interested in any of the above types of investigations, anywhere in London or across the UK, get in touch with us here at Private Detective London. We’ll be happy to help and advise on the best way forward for you.

Call +44(0)20 3747 1865 or drop me an email in the strictest confidence.

By London Missing Persons Investigator, Tim Boyd

Simple Request

Tracing vs. Finding a Missing Person

Why Aren’t All Cases Investigated by Police?

What are the issues/reasons involved in cases of missing persons? Some thoughts: