Student nurse Owami Davies has been found “safe and well” in Hampshire almost eight weeks after she went missing, the Metropolitan Police has said.

Davies, 24, had last seen walking north along London Road in Croydon on July 7 and concerned had been growing for her safety.

The force said the 24-year-old is not in the “vulnerable state” feared when she first disappeared.

Questions will be raised over the investigation after Davies was found asleep in a doorway in Croydon on July 6 while waiting for a friend, but told Metropolitan Police officers that she did not need help and left.

Her family had reported her disappearance at that stage but Davies had not been marked as a missing person on the police database at that time.

The Met also released CCTV images from a shop in Croydon of a woman they said was Davies, which was reported by much of the media.

Met commander Paul Brogden said “all aspects” of the investigation are now to be reviewed to assess whether there is “any learning that we need to take” from how it was handled.

On Tuesday, DCI Nigel Penney from the force’s specialist crime command said: “This is clearly the outcome we were hopeful for – the finding of the missing lady, Owami Davies.

“I’d like to say she has been found safe and well outside the London area in the county of Hampshire and she’s currently with specialist officers from my team.”

He added: “She looks in good health, she’s in a place of safety, and not currently in this vulnerable state that we were led to believe she was in at the start of her disappearance.”

Despite the arrests of five people and numerous appeals for information, officers were struggling to locate Davies as they trawled through 117 reported sightings of the 24-year-old.

The 118th report, made in response to a media appeal by a member of the public, at 10.30am on Tuesday was the one which led to her being found.

Detectives said on Monday that Davies could be sleeping rough, with no money on her Oyster card and no access to her phone or bank cards.

This was one working hypothesis, the Met said, adding that officers were keeping an open mind to all possibilities.

Davies had last been seen on July 7 after leaving her family home in Grays, Essex on July 4 having told her mother she was going to the gym.

Both Brogden and Penney said they were “ecstatic” at the outcome of the case, with the Met commander adding: “More importantly I’m pleased for Owami’s mother and her brother.”

Five people were arrested and bailed in connection with her disappearance – two on suspicion of murder and three on suspicion of kidnap – but police said there was no evidence that she had come to harm.

Officers confirmed on Tuesday that all five were released and are still on police bail, with a decision on what will happen next following a “full debrief”.