Mother of ‘missing’ 12-year-old boy who booked flight from Perth to Adelaide reveals bizarre twist

A 12-year-old boy who booked himself on a flight to Adelaide was following his mother on her weekend away — and was on the same plane oblivious to his mum who landed to news he was missing, fearing he was dead. The youngster was reported missing from his Leederville home on Wednesday morning, with it later discovered he had travelled to Adelaide alone on a Jetstar flight without his parent’s knowledge. Speaking about the ordeal on Thursday, the boy’s mother, Sharon Greenock, revealed her son, Justin, had followed her to the city where she was travelling for the AFL Gather Round with her friends. Ms Greenock said her son was neurodiverse, suffers from major separation anxiety and has type one diabetes, revealing she had joked with her husband that he might follow her to the airport. “We did not for one second think he might try get to Adelaide,” Ms Greenock told ABC Radio. “I was up early to go on an early flight (my husband) he’s messaged me ‘sleeping soundly, no problem’, but Justin had already left, he left before me, he tells me now. (My husband) then messages me at the airport and says ‘he’s not home’.” The couple then reported him missing to police. Ms Greenock said she boarded the plane, expecting to get a message from her husband to say their son had been found when she arrived, only to be bombarded with messages from people who had seen the missing person report. “I had so many friends who had messaged me and the messages were, ‘I’m so sorry Sharon, I’m so sorry Sharon’, and I thought ‘he’s dead’. They are ringing because he’s actually already dead’.” Ms Greenock said she discovered her son had boarded the flight because he had messaged a friend, whose mother told Ms Greenock. She then demanded proof. “Well then he did prove it because he sent (the friend) the boarding pass,” she said. “He was on the same flight as me.” The mother continued, “At some point (during the flight), I stand up, we’re in row 20, and I asked ‘which way should I go for a wee Lisa?’ She goes, ‘go to the back’. If I’d gone to the front I would have seen him. He was in row three.” The mother said she did not really believe her son was there until she found him at her Airbnb. Asked how he booked the flight, Ms Greenock said he has a “photographic memory of numbers”. Premier Roger Cook earlier said he though it was “extraordinary that a minor could so easily get themselves a ticket for a flight across the country” “Surely it raises flags for any airline when you have a small child, a 12-year-old in this case, wanting to purchase a ticket,” he said. “Now, we understand unaccompanied minors do travel on flights, that’s a typical and regular thing, but a minor travelling alone without any parental supervision, or without any guardian or carer oversight in the transaction strikes me as very unusual.” Ms Greenock said she found comfort in his words, saying “there needs to be something there (with airlines) that’s a red flag”. “Because not all people with neurodiversity look especially like they’ve got a challenge,” she said. The West has been told the ticket was booked in January and that the resourceful pre-teen presented the documents required to be approved to travel independently.

Mother of ‘missing’ 12-year-old boy who booked flight from Perth to Adelaide reveals bizarre twist

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