Suffering from dementia, Ingrid Phillips, 80, went missing from her home on Zimin Drive on Tuesday morning, after going for an early morning walk that left her trapped in a drain more than 1km away from her family’s home.

“I was just about to go to work at 6.30am when I got a call that mum was missing,” Mrs Phillips’ son, Rob, said.

“She often gets up at daylight to go in the garden - but she wasn’t in the garden.

“We checked the back gate for footprints and drove around to all the places mum loves and where we used to live years ago.

“Mum’s been in town since 1949, she started the first pre-school in Katherine, andbecause of her dementia she sometimes loses track with her thoughts and thinks she’s going home when’s she actually heading for a place where she hasn’t lived for many years.”

Mr Phillips said his family searched for more than 30 minutes before contacting police.

Mr Phillips said six police officers took over and found Mrs Phillips injured in a drain about three hours after the had family noticed her disapperence.

“She must have fallen in the drain and couldn’t get out again.

“She was barefoot and didn’t wear her glasses and the fall took a lot of skin off her arms and legs,”?Mr Phillips said.

“We can’t speak highly enough of the marvellous, quick and professional work our local police did in finding mum.

“We take our hat off to Katherine police.”