THE family of a young soldier from Norbury who has been missing for three weeks have appealed for help to find him.
Steven Mubanga, a trainee British Army soldier, was last seen on January 11 when he left his home in Kilmartin Avenue, Norbury, to get a train to his Yorkshire barracks.
But the 20-year-old has not been seen since and police believe he never boarded the train.
Steven's aunt, Karen, 42, of London, said Steven is a "well loved, responsible, fun" young man.
She said: "We miss him and just want him home. He's never in any trouble and anything can be resolved.
"We just want to tell him that we love him."
Karen, who last saw Steven in October last year. said the family have been very distressed since his disappearance and it will "mean the world" to see him again.
Police officers looking for Steven have had no reports of his whereabouts and are growing increasingly concerned.
PC Kim Hyland, from Croydon's missing person unit, said Steven was "happy in his career and getting on really well in the Army". She said his disappearance is out of character and there is no reason for him to go missing.
PC Hyland said: "We've made extensive enquiries, and as far as we can tell, he has not gone abroad, so we are very keen to speak to anyone who may have seen or heard from Steven in the past couple of weeks.
"If Steven is reading this, then we'd just ask you to call us to let us know you're ok. You're certainly not in any trouble and your friends, family and colleagues just want to know that you're safe and well."
Karen said the missing person unit have been "amazing" and the family have been touched by support shown by the public on Twitter and Facebook pages set up to find Steven.
"Initially we just wanted to find him and thought let's get together and it's just grown," said Karen. "People who we don't even know just care.
"We just want to get across what kind of person he is so people can see how lovely he is."
Steven is a black man of medium build with short black hair. He is around of 5ft 10ins tall. Steven wears black, square-rimmed glasses and often wears a baseball cap.
He was last seen wearing a grey, black and white hooded top, dark blue jeans, a black and green baseball cap and white Nike Air Jordan basketball trainers. He was carrying a JD Sports bag and a back pack.
Steven has links to the Croydon, Norbury, Camberwell and Streatham areas.
Anyone with information on Steven's whereabouts should contact police on 101, or call the Missing People charity on 116 000.
