Missing maths prodigy had passed university exams
Wednesday, 5 July 2000
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The missing student prodigy Sufiah Yusof passed the exams she finished sitting on the day of her disappearance from Oxford University, it was announced last night.
The missing student prodigy Sufiah Yusof passed the exams she finished sitting on the day of her disappearance from Oxford University, it was announced last night.
The results from the two advanced mathematics papers sat by the 15-year-old were posted outside the university's exam hall as efforts continued to locate the teenager. Senior staff at the all-women St Hilda's College attended by Sufiah, who have denied pressure of work may have driven her away, said they hoped the results would none the less encourage her to get in touch.
The college principal, Elizabeth Llewellyn-Smith, said: "It is very much so far, so good. Sufiah was expected to pass these exams and now that she has done so we hope she will feel able to contact her family. It is obvious from her results that the reason she has disappeared is not work-related.'
The student's father, Farooq, issued a plea to his daughter on Monday to let him know that she was safe and well. He described Sufiah as "unstreetwise and naïve".
Sufiah, who had just finished the third year of a four-year masters degree in mathematics, had been expected to return to the family home in Coventry after sitting her final exam on 22 June. A girl claiming to be the maths undergraduate phoned St Hilda's a few days later to say that she was staying with friends but there has been no contact since.
Thames Valley Police have checked more than 400 e-mail messages in the belief that she may be with someone she met over the internet but have so far failed to find any evidence she was lured away. Sources within the university have suggested that Sufiah, who had recently become interested in politics, may have gone to London with a new friend made at a meeting of the Socialist Workers' Party.
St Hilda's confirmed that Sufiah had not been in touch to ask about her exam results.
