Wikipedia refuses for the third time to run page about missing Milton Keynes woman Leah Croucher

Wikipedia administrators have now refused to run a page about missing Milton Keynes woman Leah Croucher for a third time.

The famous online encyclopedia turned the first two submissions down because Leah's disappearance was a "single event" and "not notable enough".

Last week they refused the third submission on the grounds that police reports and newspaper articles given as references were "not reliable sources".

The draft page has been drawn up by the web sleuth Facebook group called Leah Croucher Disappearance - Community Investigation, which now has 7,100 members.

A spokesman for the group told the Citizen: "We noticed that poor Leah was not amongst the hundreds of missing persons pages on Wikipedia and decided it was time to change that. Wikipedia is a very powerful on the internet and could help greatly in giving Leah's disappearance needed exposure.

"In early October 2021, then again in December and January 2022, we submitted pages using what we thought were reliable national sources in the Thames Valley Police, BBC, ITV News and others.

"Satisfying Wikipedia's rigid criteria for a missing person's page appears to be a much larger task than first thought. We have resubmitted it again and again and will continue to work closely with Wikipedia to finally have this published."

In the most recent refusal, Wikipedia stated the details about Leah's disappearance were " not adequately supported by reliable sources".

The Wiki admin team told the Facebook group: "Reliable sources are required so that information can be verified...Metro and the Daily Mail are not reliable. Due to the extremely serious nature of the subject, it's essential that only high-quality sources are used, not tabloids or gossip rags … Did any organisations other than the BBC and ITV report on it?”

The Facebook group is now resubmitting, adding Sky News and The Guardian to the multiple BBC and ITV News references.

Previously they had been told by Wikipedia: “This submission appears to be a news report of a single event and may not be notable enough for an article in Wikipedia. Please note that if the issues are not fixed, the draft will be declined again.”

Leah vanished inexplicably while walking to work on the morning of February 15 2019. Almost three years on, there are still no clues about what happened to her.

Anybody who has any information to help the ongoing police investigation should contact Thames Valley Police on 101, quoting reference number 43190049929 or ‘Operation Dawlish’.

People can also visit their local police station or, for total anonymity, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

There is a £20,000 reward for any information that could lead to Leah being found.