Aussie backpacker missing in London, ‘cryptic’ messages worry friends

Jessica Parkinson is missing in London.

Police in London are searching for a backpacker who went missing from a hostel two weeks ago.

Australian waitress Jessica Parkinson was first reported missing on December 11 by desperate family back home on the Sunshine Coast after she failed to make contact with them, the Daily Mail reported.

When she failed to turn up for a scheduled shift at a barbecue restaurant on December 14, her boss sent her a text message.

She was due at 4pm at Texas Joes and her manager quickly received a reply from Parkinson’s phone saying she had mixed up her start time and would be there by 5.

She never arrived.

Another colleague then received a “cryptic” message later that evening.

After three missed shifts, she was reported missing a second time.

Restaurant owner Joe Walters told the Mail that missing the shifts was “very out of character” for Parkinson, who had worked at the restaurant for the last year.

“She didn’t show up, but sent a cryptic message to another member of staff that evening. She didn’t mention missing work.

“Then she didn’t show up to work on Thursday and then when she didn’t show up on Friday I reached out to her father in Australia.

“He told me the police had been alerted and is being dealt with by the missing persons unit.”

Parkinson was reportedly living in the St Christopher’s Inn backpacker’s hostel after she was evicted from her flat.

“She was stressed out about it,” Walters said.

“She was going back to Australia for the holidays and said she might stay there until March to get stuff together and then come back but no one in Australia has heard from her,” he added.

“It’s difficult for her dad because he’s in Australia and with the time difference he’s not really sleeping in case he hears something.”