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Victims of crime

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Original poster

Strange disappearances and crimes

321 replies

ENoeuf · 22/01/2022 11:40

Started this as we’ve veered off topic on the AG thread.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4450831-New-development-on-missing-Andrew-Gosden-case

OP posts:
GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 27/01/2022 14:11

The BBC were filming Motorway Cops when the Eriksson twins episode happened.

PeggyGa · 28/01/2022 12:57

I can’t get my head around penny Bell so sad.

Is there any podcasts that focus on UK cases?

Cheeseycheeseycheesecheese · 28/01/2022 20:00

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat

The BBC were filming Motorway Cops when the Eriksson twins episode happened.
I remember the horror I felt watching that as one of the twins went under the lorry! I was horrified.
SunshineOnKeith · 28/01/2022 21:25

The Deborah Linsley murder is bizarre.
Remarkable no one saw a blood soaked person leaving the train
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MurderoffDeborahLinsley

BorderlineHappy · 28/01/2022 23:17

I do often think about last sightings and how reliable I'd be

LastChristmasIGaveYouMyHeart · 29/01/2022 00:15

@SunshineOnKeith

The Deborah Linsley murder is bizarre. Remarkable no one saw a blood soaked person leaving the train https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MurderoffDeborahLinsley
I can't remember where I read it, or how reputable it is, but Robert Napper (he murdered Rachel Nickell) is a strong contender for her murder.
GnomeDePlume · 29/01/2022 08:24

@BorderlineHappy

I do often think about last sightings and how reliable I'd be
Very unreliable I should think.

I read an anecdote from a policeman. Two girls had bunked off school to go swimming in the Thames. Had their swim then parted company to go home. One didn't arrive. Lots of eyewitnesses described seeing her, I think some had spoken to her.

A few days later her body was found in the Thames. Eventually the true story came out. While swimming she had swum round into another dock, got entangled and drowned. The friend had got tired of waiting for her and gone home. When the other girl didn't turn up she had got frightened and lied.

All the various eyewitnesses who said they had seen and spoken to her had misremembered. They hadn't had a reason to remember the last time they had seen or spoken to her so the memory got attached to the day she went missing.

SunshineOnKeith · 29/01/2022 10:24

@LastChristmasIGaveYouMyHeart
I know he's a suspect in the Penny Bell case too

They have samples of her Killer's DNA but because Napier and other suspects were convicted prior to 1997, they aren't on the database!

thetruecrimeenthusiast.co.uk/2016/12/06/who-was-the-killer-on-the-1416/amp/

ladygaga14 · 29/01/2022 10:47

@dayswithaY

The thing I don't get about Corrie is that he was really smartly dressed that night in white jeans and he cared a lot about his appearance. He was seen on CCTV asleep in a doorway and he had parked his car close by. Why would he actively choose to climb into a bin to go to sleep when he had already dozed off in the doorway. Why wouldn't he go to sleep in his nearby car?

Who the hell chooses to climb into a repulsive bin to sleep? Or could there be some other reason he ended up in there?

Maybe other people do this but I just can't understand anyone going to sleep in a bin after a night out.

Interestingly, there was an episode of Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix about an older ex army guy whose body was also found in landfill in the US. The man who worked there said they regularly had to bang on the lids of bins before opening them in case people were asleep inside, but these may have been homeless people so that's different.

In this case, the guy had bipolar and had stopped taking his meds. Not sure if any of this applied to Corrie?

Could someone have found him drunk and asleep in a doorway & lifted him into the bin for a 'laugh' & now be too scared to come forward once they realised what happened? Although you'd think here would be CCTV. Such a sad story, either way. Felt so sorry for his mum when she was appealing in TV. Must drive her crazy not to know what happened
BorderlineHappy · 29/01/2022 10:48

Jill Dando is another one I think of.
So weird it hasn't been solved yet.
23 years in April and still no closer to finding the killer.

Onwardsupwardsagain · 29/01/2022 11:42

@SunshineOnKeith Poor Deborah

Surely the DNA evidence means that the Police can use Ancestry /23&me etc to find out the identity of the killer…? Or even their descendants, as it’s possible the perp is now dead.

Do Police NOT use those databases in this country?? They do in the US..

GnomeDePlume · 29/01/2022 14:25

As I understand it with the Penny Bell case is that the primary source of potential DNA, Penny's finger nails, were clipped but then the nail clippings got lost. They were found many years later but they had got contaminated so are now useless.

I think the police deciding they 'know who did it' just lack evidence is hugely dangerous. This is how Colin Stagg ended up being falsely accused and Robert Napper being left free to carry on.

SunshineOnKeith · 29/01/2022 14:50

[quote Onwardsupwardsagain]@SunshineOnKeith Poor Deborah

Surely the DNA evidence means that the Police can use Ancestry /23&me etc to find out the identity of the killer…? Or even their descendants, as it’s possible the perp is now dead.

Do Police NOT use those databases in this country?? They do in the US..[/quote]
I don't think the databases you've mentioned release DNA to the police
Genmatch is the one that's always mentioned in genealogy cases in the USA.

I suspect that GDPR laws in the UK might preclude see this but I'm not sure.

Does anyone know any UK cases where genetic geneology has been used?

SunshineOnKeith · 29/01/2022 14:51

@GnomeDePlume

As I understand it with the Penny Bell case is that the primary source of potential DNA, Penny's finger nails, were clipped but then the nail clippings got lost. They were found many years later but they had got contaminated so are now useless.

I think the police deciding they 'know who did it' just lack evidence is hugely dangerous. This is how Colin Stagg ended up being falsely accused and Robert Napper being left free to carry on.

Yes but in Deborah's case they have blood of the attacker
Onwardsupwardsagain · 29/01/2022 15:53

So @SunshineOnKeith - can’t they get the dna from blood?

AuntMasha · 29/01/2022 16:40

@sashh

Sorry if these have been mentioned before. but if not a couple of YouTube rabbit holes.

"Finding Mike", a perfectly normal man working in an office called, Mike he makes friends with a co worker, Dylan. The business goes belly up but they stay in touch.

Then Mike has a sudden heart attack, the police can't find a next of kin so contact Dylan who had provided a reference for Mike to renew his passport.

The identity of the person in the passport has been stolen, if was a child who had died while young.

So Dylan goes looking for his friend.

I won't spoil it but it is worth a watch.

The other is a YouTuber called 'Mr Ballen' he has a few creepy stories but also some about disappearances, he gives the information in a story like way but he has at least one where he discusses people who disappear and then turn up later, alive but not realising time has past and some of them are found no where near they disappeared.

I subscribe to ‘Real Stories’ on YT and ‘Finding Mike’ is next in my to-watch list on that channel so many thanks for reminding me. They do some really good crime story docs. I also recommended ‘Vanished: The Missing Surrey Schoolgirl’ about the disappearance of Ruth Wilson.
SunshineOnKeith · 29/01/2022 17:07

@Onwardsupwardsagain

So *@SunshineOnKeith* - can’t they get the dna from blood?
Yes they have DNA.
ToffeeNotCoffee · 29/01/2022 23:12

'Finding Mike' was fascinating but sad. It gave a window on how people disappear.

Also, there's a case of someone who moved to a new town and was known by a different name. Sadly they died in a car accident but was only known as, say, 'Sandra Davies' not by her real name. So her family never knew that she had died.

ChrissyPlummer · 29/01/2022 23:38

@SunshineOnKeith this one was solved with a familial DNA match.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Colette_Aram

Frigginintheriggin · 30/01/2022 08:04

As much as this child is no longer missing (thankfully) I find this really odd. A prominent wealthy family and the police don't appear to have been overly concerned. I know initially the family tried to resolve the kidnapping themselves but still very strange...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Robles

SunshineOnKeith · 30/01/2022 08:47

[quote ChrissyPlummer]@SunshineOnKeith this one was solved with a familial DNA match.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Colette_Aram[/quote]
Yes but that was taken from a swab of his son.
I'm not aware of any cases using genetic geneology in the UK to retrospectively trace relatives of 'unknown subject' DNA?
Does it ever happen?

KatherineJaneway · 30/01/2022 08:53

@sashh

Sorry if these have been mentioned before. but if not a couple of YouTube rabbit holes.

"Finding Mike", a perfectly normal man working in an office called, Mike he makes friends with a co worker, Dylan. The business goes belly up but they stay in touch.

Then Mike has a sudden heart attack, the police can't find a next of kin so contact Dylan who had provided a reference for Mike to renew his passport.

The identity of the person in the passport has been stolen, if was a child who had died while young.

So Dylan goes looking for his friend.

I won't spoil it but it is worth a watch.

The other is a YouTuber called 'Mr Ballen' he has a few creepy stories but also some about disappearances, he gives the information in a story like way but he has at least one where he discusses people who disappear and then turn up later, alive but not realising time has past and some of them are found no where near they disappeared.

On the back of your recommendation I watched Finding Mike and it was moving. I won't spoil it for anyone but would recommend people watch it.
OnaBegonia · 30/01/2022 08:57

Have now watched the the docu about Ruth Wilson, very odd the lack of involvement of her father. Even the town seems disinterested, poor girl who nobody seemed to care for.

KatherineJaneway · 30/01/2022 14:22

@OnaBegonia

Have now watched the the docu about Ruth Wilson, very odd the lack of involvement of her father. Even the town seems disinterested, poor girl who nobody seemed to care for.
So true, very odd about the dad.
Ineedaduvetday · 30/01/2022 14:41

As awful as it sounds, I believe the truth as to what happened to Ruth Wilson starts and ends at her home.