In July 2015 Derek's family announced that he had been missing for three weeks, appealing for information related to his whereabouts. Police confirmed that he had not used his bank account since the beginning of July, and could not have gone abroad as he has no passport. He was last seen leaving the Criterion pub in St Pauls shortly after midnight on 11 July; later that morning his bus pass was used on a bus to Thornbury, 12 miles north of Bristol. Daddy G of Massive Attack, who described Derek as a "walking musical encyclopedia", played a club night in Bristol to raise funds for a search.