Mr William Lee who was suffering from the early sages of dementia, was found four days after he disappeared in Barnet, 12 miles from his home his home in Pellerin Road, Stoke Newington.

Hackney Gazette: Izzy and her dad WilliamIzzy and her dad William (Image: Archant)

The daughter of a pensioner who died after going missing has written a song in his memory to raise awareness of dementia.

Police issued appeals to the public to help trace Izzy Lee’s father William after he disappeared during a freezing spate of weather on March 21.

The 77-year old, who was suffering from the early sages of dementia, was found dead four days later in Barnet, 12 miles from his home his home in Pellerin Road, Stoke Newington.

An investigation into Mr Lee’s death – which police deemed non-suspicious – is ongoing, and an inquest will be heard later in December, but Ms Lee has been told her father died of hypothermia.

Records showed Mr Lee, who had already gone missing a couple of times previously, had travelled on 20 separate bus journeys in the space of a day using his Freedom Pass.

Ms Lee, 36, who lives in Archway, Islington, said: “I was phoned by someone at TfL to give me a run down of the buses my dad had been on, after the third or fourth bus I was crying, if you think really how his mindset must have been, he must have been getting on one bus, going to the end of the line and coming back and getting on it again, his memory wasn’t good.”

She added: “I think maybe someone might have seen him at the bus depot looking confused. I wish someone would have said something, it makes me feel gutted.

“I don’t want anyone to go through what my dad went through, or for anyone’s family to go through what we’ve been through.

“I was going out of my mind that whole weekend, I’ve seen that kind of thing on the TV when police knock on the door to give bad news, I had hope for my dad coming back home until then.”

Ms Lee, a music promoter, wants people to learn about the signs of dementia so they might be able to help others in a similar situation and has written a song in his memory, An Angel.

She also hopes it will raise funds for Dementia UK when it is released on iTunes on June 24.

Dementia reduces people’s ability to learn, reason and retain or recall past experience, and as the condition worsens individuals’ behaviour may become disorganized, restless or inappropriate.

“A lot of people don’t know what dementia is, some people think they are crazy, I want to get rid of the stigma,” said Ms Lee.

“It’s so heartbreaking but the music is keeping me going and I feel I’m doing something positive and it’s what my dad would want me to do.

“He’d want us to all stay strong and help people, he would help anybody, he was such a good guy, an inspiration.”

To listen to the song go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMff1RqzURQ.