Daughter of missing Wakefield woman found in Rochdale launches appeal to find kind stranger who helped her in hour of need

UPDATE: The family of the man have made contact and details have been passed on.

 

The daughter of a missing Wakefield woman who was found in Rochdale has launched an appeal to find the kind stranger who helped her mum in her time of need.

Frances Patnaik went missing on Friday morning (11 January) after dropping daughter Jemma off at sixth form in Wakefield, almost 40 miles away from where she was found the following morning.

Jemma says her mum messaged her dad to say she would be home for breakfast but didn’t arrive, with her dad ringing the police later that morning.

West Yorkshire Police ran an appeal and have since confirmed Frances was found 'safe and well'.

Jemma said: “I don’t know why mum drove to Rochdale. It has no significance to her. She drove to somewhere in the town – we don’t know where – before getting out and walking.

“Mum told us that a man helped her in her time of need: we think he stopped her from doing something she shouldn’t. She was found at around 3am on Saturday morning by a man in the Turf Hill area.

“Mum had been walking up the street, as though she wanted help but couldn’t ask for it.

“This man had CCTV, saw mum and brought her inside. He said he was up as he had a bad back and he had recently been widowed.”

The good Samaritan is believed to have two small dogs and a cat, whilst his daughter runs a café.

Jemma added: “We are eternally grateful to him. He told mum to ‘go home, be safe’. We want to find this man and thank him.”

Frances is currently under observation in a local hospital.

If you are, or know, the man who helped Frances, please message the Newsdesk where we can pass on your details to Jemma: news@rochdaleonline.co.uk