Accused Of Murdering Our Son

[DinosaurDiana]

Have any of you watched it, and what do you think ?

Is this about Stephen Clark? I watched this a couple of months ago. It's an implausible story, one or both of the parents know more than they are saying. I have no idea why they would co-operate with this programme but people don't vanish into thin air.

I saw it a couple of months ago too. I can't remember the details now but remember there were a couple of odd things i noticed but didn't know anyone else who'd seen it at the time. I think it was one of them saying "That's our story" and the other one correcting them with "That's the truth." I think the person who made the film believed the parents were innocent didn't he?

I can't understand why the mother didn't go in to the toilets or get anyone to check them and instead just presumed her son had wandered back home without her while they were out on a walk.
I think there must have been some kind of argument between them for her to have even thought he'd go off without her and not wait rather than her saying all was fine.

Both parents were very odd.

Was there any evidence that the Dad was actually at the football match he claimed to be at?

Yeah same. If there was only one entrance and exit to the toilet why not go and look for him. I understand she thought she had missed him while she was in the ladies but surely she’d check.
What about the sightings of him later though. Very odd.

Someone must have sat next to him at the football? Or saw him queuing up for a pie or cup of tea or something?

It was all a bit odd. I don't get why you wouldn't ask whoever was going into the toilet or a passing man or even shout in to see where he was

She can't think he'd have wandered off without waiting for her unless there had been an argument.
And I don't think the Dad was at football.
I can't remember his occupation but Mum was in the police force.
I think they saw Stephen as an embarrassment.

Dad was in the police as well I think.

I picked up on the 'that's our story and that's the truth ' too BUT they had just been relentlessly interviewed by the police who kept accusing them of their alibi just being a story so possibly a slip of the tongue.

If my dh or ds went into the loo and then didn't come out and I was outside , I would call their name , surely anyone would ? Then you'd get someone to look wouldn't you? That's bizarre.

You know @MrsPelligrinoPetrichor you’re right. I was thinking about how it would depend how old someone was maybe, I thought she would have done it in this instance because oh his disability, but you know I would look for anyone man or woman if they didn’t come out of the toilet.

I read an article somewhere and they said the football match wasn’t even on that day - it was an away game so that can’t have been the one the dad claimed to have gone to (the home match was a couple of days later, because of the Boxing Day football matches). It’s all a strange story with so many holes.

That must be pretty easy to find out though the day of the match I mean.

I don't know how easy it would be actually, it was in the days of paper tickets etc, not on line.

The football club would know though. The police must have checked at the time. More difficult now yes but at the time they only had to say were you playing home or away.
Plus other people who went to the match or not would have known.
Any programmes any where?

The story was a big story locally too I think. Someone would have said he couldn’t have been at the football we were playing away that week.

Even if he came out of the toilet before her (I thought she used the ladies loo at the same time) she would have seen him in the distance, he couldn't walk fast due to his disability. Ditto, if he came out after she'd walked off he would eventually be behind her.

That toilet wasn't Narnia. He either died of natural causes in the toilet - and would have been discovered quickly, or died due to violence and his body smuggled out past his Mum - which clearly didn't happen. Or, he was never there that day at all.

The sightings of him around town are just locals trying to get their 15 minutes of fame in my opinion. Eye witness testimony is notoriously unreliable.

Very bold to make up a story like that though.

I didn’t believe either of them. They know what happened.
Poor man.

I believe them. I felt awfully sad for them.

Yes, we have a thread!!! At last!!!

This story has bothered me since I saw the programme. I went into it saying to myself that people act strangely all the time for all sorts of non-dodgy reasons or dodgy but not murderous reasons. But holy hell did this documentary ever test my patience. Not by one or two things but by a whole string of things that seemed MAYBE possible or believable but added together felt crazy:

• The sister being mentioned at the beginning and then NEVER again. I would love to know what she thinks. Maybe she didn't want to be filmed, which I understand, but it was then so odd that they just went on with the show without mentioning her again.

• Obviously the much-discussed toilet visit. My dad is very funny about these things so I asked him how long he'd wait to go home without checking on me in the ladies if I hadn't come out. He looked at me like I was mental.

• The football game. I find it impossible that the game wasn't actually on - surely that would've been mentioned? But considering these was the days before you could just look up the recap online, I wondered if the police had more reason than they stated to suspect him.

It also interests me that the guy who made the documentary thinks they're innocent because that was not communicated onscreen at all. The parents came across horribly. Not as horrible people well maybe but what disturbed me was how emotionlessly they spoke about Stephen versus their responses at the end when they were "cleared"/the charges dropped. Then they were crying with joy vs their totally emotionless talk about their son. I know people react in all sorts of different ways for different reasons, and it doesn't make them guilty but...the documentary felt biased in favour of their innocence but not convincing about it, if that makes sense.

Extremely sketchy and strange. The other thing that's really odd is that the story does have a "refuge in audacity" quality about it. Like if they ARE lying and killed their son, they couldn't have come up with a better cover story than "I didn't bother to check the toilets and walked home"? Especially with them being police officers. And, if they did, how and where's his body?

I saw it a while back. Very sad to be accused of killing your son, I can't imagine it. I don't think they did it, they seemed innocent to me.

I don't think they were emotionless, she was in a right state and he just looked bemused as he couldn't believe what was going on.

Very strange couple. The way they talked about their son seemed so cold. I did wonder if they are estranged from their daughter - just the one mention of her, then nothing. And it just seems unbelievable to me that his mother would not even shout out his name when he didn't come out of the toilet block.

That was very unbelievable,yes. And to say she would dream of calling out as he was 23 seemed even stranger.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor yes! My DD is 23, and I couldn't imagine reacting like that, especially if she had a disability which potentially made her vulnerable.

I obviously don't know what happened! But the toilets were very close to their house and they walked there very often. I don't think assuming he'd gone home is unbelievable.

Also the programme didn't probe his mental health in much detail...he seemed to have had a lot of knock backs and things to endure. At his age, living with his parents and without much hope of things many young men hope for, I think this angle is interesting.

Isn't it funny though...people are reporting things in the programme I missed but also not mentioning things I found very striking! Like we all watched different shows, somehow!

I do just believe them. There was no motive and no means.