Hi, long time lurker, but newly signed up member. I’ve caught up on old cases here but never had reason to comment before.
I’m local and like many women see my self in SE and I thought I would give my two cents…or pennies.
MOVEMENTS
Knowing the area, the 14 min call to her boyfriend that ended normally was almost certainly a ‘safety call’ to accompany her along the common. She unlikely cut across it but the road can be a little creepy - it’s well lit and busy at that time of night but the common obviously isn’t. JMO
[I used to sell Christmas trees near to the snack cabin and locking up on my own at night was always a little scary. Especially as a 5’4 blonde woman. :/ MOO ]
It makes sense that her call took her into the busier high street. I believe police were investigating that angle re: CCTV as soon as possible. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen, there’s not as much as you’d hope. Searching the common was good from a media standpoint but not likely to reveal anything. JMO
I believe she would not easily be redirected from her stated walking route and I would confidently rule out an accidental or ‘planned’ RTC. It’s a busy road. I walked it at 8.40pm on Friday evening and the pavements are wide, fairly good street lights with traffic flowing in both directions and enough people to make this VERY tricky to pull off. There are some bits that are not so friendly. I’d be walking close to the road…JMO
From the get-go this reminded me of Sian Callagan and Christopher Halliwell. She’s got into a car willingly. I hoped LE were following the same hypothesis and the searches of the common and nearby areas were more about convincing the perp they had no leads and giving the community reassurance. JMO
HOW DID HE GET HER IN THE CAR?
I’ve been trying so hard to think about what would ever get me to get into a car with a stranger (I know connection is unverified as yet but stranger appears to be the working theory). If, perhaps, he pulled over and showed her his warrant card, explained that there had been a recent attack on a young woman and there were unmarked police in the area looking for the perp, 'he was last seen up ahead' etc etc. ‘My partner’s with the victim now but I’ve been asked to escort women or urge them to be careful…how much further do you have to go?’
As we’ve heard on here, police lifts home are a thing, and WC reportedly comes across friendly…any level of confident urgency ‘I can’t stop here long - can’t give the game away, hop in the back’ (he has stuff on the front seat, police radio even, he looks and sounds legit) might well have seen me make a split decision that cost me dearly. I like to think I’m pretty savvy with all the true crime I devour but who ever really knows? MOO
HOW DID HE GET HER PHONE?
This is the one that baffled me for ages. He would know to turn it off asap. Here’s my theory. JMO. I’ve filled in details that are of course all conjecture but have helped me understand a scenario that this would work.
Immediately that she gets in, he asks her for directions, [no red flag] crucially he says something along the lines of, ‘can you get your address up on your phone? I’ve got half an ear on what’s going on in the case’ by this I mean radio chatter - he’s got an earpiece in or has just tuned his radio in to local LE chatter so he can’t concentrate on directions. Maybe he even makes a pretend call over radio to say he’s picked a young lady up to take her to her address. She, at this point, isn’t alarmed and is getting her directions up on her phone/holding it out. They drive a little more and now she can’t call her boyfriend to let him know because WC is ‘following her directions’. He establishes if she lives alone maybe - all plausible and believable if the scenario is that of another predator out there. He gets the info he needs. He takes the phone, under the guise of seeing it better or simply because this is now his move. The windows are blacked out, the child locks are on. Has he disabled the windows?…he’s a mechanic. MOO
[My friend recently related how she won’t get cabs on her own anymore because when a cabbie started being a bit off, she started recording on her phone in her lap. He saw and grabbed it and continued to drive without giving it back. He eventually stopped, opened his door, put it on the ground and drove over it, and then told her to get out. It happened quickly, she was drunk and was absolutely terrified.]
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
is anyone’s guess…and doesn’t bear thinking about but I think we know roughly the conclusion.
HOW I THINK THEY CAUGHT HIM
Just like in the Sian Callagan case I believe they get CCTV (from a bus?) that flags his car as one of interest. A quick check reveals it to be a member of LE. This has to be handled very carefully. They can’t spook him, what if he has her alive somewhere but feels the net closing in and takes her life and then his? Or takes his life and they never find her. LE continue to make a show of searching in the wrong areas while investigating WC.
I think I’m right in saying someone claiming to be LE contacted a member of WS to ask about CCTV footage. I don’t want to read too much into this but as our friend who reported that has not come back to verify or deny claims, (that I can see?) I think that after contacting LE to flag the interaction (they have the phone number saved) they have been asked not to put any more info into the public sphere - they may be called upon in a trial and is now a witness.
This cemented WC as a POI for inserting himself into the investigation through unofficial channels and, as someone said, not declaring his presence in the area to LE. That combined with the Indecent Exposure report...This ‘complex’ investigation is ‘moving at pace’. JMO. *** Edit by me - must have missed the confirmation that this LE contact was in fact, legit. Disregard ***
Just like with Christopher Halliwell they had him under surveillance, hoping he would reveal a location for SE. The ‘hat’ found on the common, so well presented and photographed, seems like more smokescreen to make him think they aren’t on to him. They want him to confidently return to where he's dumped her to check she's concealed/destroy evidence. However, after he stayed home all weekend they decide to step up the ‘forensic’ work on Poynders road on the left hand side of the road (leaving London) perhaps in a new attempt to get him to make a move they could follow that would incriminate. They have to always consider that she is alive and held somewhere. Preservation of life is crucial and paramount. If they go in and arrest him now he could say nothing and she may never be found. It’s a delicate balance of risk. They perhaps don’t have footage of her actually getting in the car. They will need actual evidence, they’ve got HIM but they want to find HER. JMO
Meanwhile they are also using ANPR to backtrack his movement that night. Quite possibly revealing a stop off at the golf course/leisure centre area. Possible that LE are covertly searching this but will not want to spook him if he decides to return to destroy/remove evidence. JMO
Eventually they decide to arrest. He’s not saying anything. He knows they have to build a case and if they don’t find her, he might beat it. JMO
Recent update on WC receiving a head wound….two scenarios possible. I’m not sure they’re getting anywhere with him either way.
Sorry for the lengthy post but I’ve been holding stuff in for days! Great to finally join you properly.
All JMO, MOO.
