A 10-year-old boy with a serious genetic condition who went missing early on Tuesday has been found and taken to hospital.
Malakhi Chijiutomi-Ghosh was found by an off-duty police officer about 30 miles from where he was last seen.
He was last seen on Thornton Heath high street, in Croydon, south London, on CCTV at 7.30am and was found in Hertfordshire, Scotland Yard said.
Malakhi, who has congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), which means his adrenal gland is larger than usual, needs medication three times a day for his condition. There were fears he could have fallen into a coma. He has been taken to hospital as a precaution.
His father, the Manchester-born jazz clarinettist and composer Arun Ghosh, asked on Twitter for help finding his son.
CAH means the body is missing a chemical substance that stimulates the adrenal glands to release the cortisol hormone. People with the condition are less able to cope with emotional and physical stress and it can be life-threatening, the NHS said. The condition makes the level of male hormones increase, causing puberty to appear early in boys. Symptoms include heart rhythm abnormalities, dehydration and vomiting. CAH affects between one in 10,000 and one in 18,000 children born each year.
