Found Deceased UK - Anthony Knott, 33, last seen at a pub in Lewes, Sussex, 20 Dec 2019 #2

[Miss_French]

I find the crowd funding odd. Presumably the fire service are still paying him. It hasn't been that long since he disappeared. They are getting benefits i understand.

It could be that the family need more than the basic firefighter's pay and relied on the top-ups from payment from any available overtime, or AK working a second job when off-shift; IME the latter is quite common these days.

Plus the media are saying the fiancee is travelling back and forth to Lewes so that's additional costs.

 

[Miss_French]

I'd say family, and people who are willing to search areas not already searched.

It helps to know which areas and routes have been checked on the ground and by cctv, as it narrows down the possibilities.

Works both ways. The police or SAR can see that as a reason not to give out the information as searches need to be properly controlled and organised for the safety of participants, prevention of disruption and preservation of any evidence.

 

[Tortoise]

Works both ways. The police or SAR can see that as a reason not to give out the information as searches need to be properly controlled and organised for the safety of participants, prevention of disruption and preservation of any evidence.

Yes, it needs proper coordination and safety measures in place.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

<modsnip>

We have NO idea what the police know or what they're doing for operational reasons. And we have no right to know, either.

 

[LewesLady]

But he wasn't followed from Landport? Nothing on cctv? Still very baffling.

 

[Elainera]

<modsnip: quoted post was removed>

WS is a victim friendly as well as LE friendly place.

 

[TranquilityBase]

Whilst I still think statistically AK ended up in water, I'm interested that a body hasn't been found despite the caveats of temperature etc.

Two thoughts -
1) with the increased flooding increasing the likelihood of someone being swept away, it also increases the likelihood of being swept into a floodplain or area water normally isn't. This would make a body more likely to be found. Though I'm unaware of the depth of search downstream, I will take it as a given it was very detailed.

2) If the body was swept quickly downstream then it would end up in the bay at Newhaven. I'm a Brightonian and familiar with the area; sadly I'm also familiar with the number of drownings at sea in Brighton and Westwards to Shoreham (Newhaven to the East of both) where the bodies end up at Newhaven due to currents. Doing my best not to be too macabre but bodies tend to wash up at sea quite readily, especially Newhaven.

So it does surprise me a little bit that nothing has turned up but it's far from being improbable for still being out there. From all the info on the water searches though it sounds almost certain that if he did go in he's unlikely to be in Lewes anymore.

Edit: correction of horrible "Brightonian" typo

 

[JosieJo]

Pure speculation and just running thoughts through my head

Family claim he didn't use his phone other than a text to his partner around 4.15pm and data use just after leaving the lamb.

<modsnip: removed reference to rumor post that was removed>

Its possible maps was used to look for a street of a meeting

Family in the early days were very active on SM answering public questions but I've never seen an answer from them as to why he left the lamb although I've seen the question asked a few times ...obviously it's their right not to answer and of course they are not neccesarily going to see all questions at a stressful time ..but just a thought

Did the group originally plan the go to the E&C next ??

Is it possible the group expected him to return to the lamb ?...hence the constant referral by the press (I think via LE) that on the market st cctv he was heading back towards the lamb ...rather than what seemed the more obvious wording of "heading towards high st" etc

Did he miss the turning to the lamb hence why he appears not to try and cross the road ? ...but if returning to the lamb why not return the same way he came ??

All thoughts running through my head

 

[EyeSpyU]

That's a still from the E&C cctv footage. AK isn't in that still, he walks up on the opposite side of the road. That person in white trainers is not AK.

• So the police have given out wrong information then...

 

[Coach]

I see the crowdfunding page is sitting at over £6k.

 

[EyeSpyU]

That's a still from the E&C cctv footage. AK isn't in that still, he walks up on the opposite side of the road. That person in white trainers is not AK.

So the police released a photograph that wasn’t Anthony Knott?

 

[Sillybilly]

Rumor post and subsequent discussion of it has been removed. If you see any remnants of such convo, please Report. Speculation must be based on some known, substantiated fact published in MSM, not just any old possibility or rumor.

On another note, WS is pro-LE. Generalized bashing of LE is NOT allowed. IF however there is a known fact, specific to this case, in MSM that indicates there is valid reason to discuss police impropriety, it can be discussed at the discretion of WS staff or Tricia's say-so.

 

[Spicegirl]

Hi all, this is a bit off topic, however there are some similarities with Anthony’s case so thought it might be worth posting.

Sorry - Edited to add that I’m new-ish and didn’t realise I’d made this post soooo long!!!! Apologies - I’ll work on being less ‘wordy’ for my next one!!!

I was involved in a missing persons case a few years ago involving a young man that went missing on a night out under not dis-similar circumstances to Anthony. He had left a club earlier than his friends a bit worse for wear, had taken a taxi back to his uni accommodation but for reasons unknown had got out the taxi 100 yards from where he was staying and walked in the opposite direction, again for reasons unknown.

He was caught on CCTV a couple of times and there were various witnesses that came forward having seen him and some also having spoken to him. Unfortunately none of them offered to help him.

He ended up walking a mile or so along a main road to the small town centre where he appeared on CCTV for the last time. There was a river flowing only a few metres from where he was last seen and many people (myself included) thought he’d ended up in the water due to a horrible accident.

The police were coordinating the searches and investigation and really did work so hard, however as with Anthony, all ‘official’ searches were called off after a couple of weeks as there was just nothing else to go on.

It had been a cold night and hypothermia was also a worry, experts brought in mapped out a ‘circle’, based on where he was last seen on CCTV to show the maximum area he could have travelled on foot in the cold weather conditions based on the various CCTV images and witness statements, they said that if he hadn’t left the area, based on the science they helped develop, there was no way he would be able to venture further than their diagram had shown.

The family, along with a handful of volunteers kept searching within the area of this same circle - the outskirts of the town were very hilly with trees, bushes etc and the terrains was rough in parts, but overall walkable.

He was eventually found, a good few miles out of the ‘circle’ that the experts said he couldn’t possibly reach. He had been suffering from hypothermia, had sat down against an old stone wall in a remote farmers field and the farmer found him in springtime when it was time to let his livestock back into the field, this was 3.5 months after he went missing. The combination of alcohol and the cold winter temps had been fatal.

I’m not suggesting this has happened to Anthony, but it just shows how alcohol and the elements do not mix well and how a fit young man became so disoriented in the space of a couple of hours, in a small town that he made a couple of bad decisions he would never otherwise have made and probably didn’t even realise he needed help.

I’m not sure if it was cold enough on the night Anthony disappeared but perhaps the combination of alcohol and the elements resulted in him making decisions he never would normally and suffered an accident as a result.

If you made it through to the end of this post - thank you! I know it’s pretty long!

Em

 

[Tortoise]

So the police released a photograph that wasn’t Anthony Knott?

I don't know that it actually stated in the article what that photo was without reading it again. It could have been the newspaper just producing a still from the first clip of the cctv footage, without caring to check what it showed.

 

[Elainera]

Hi all, this is a bit off topic, however there are some similarities with Anthony’s case so thought it might be worth posting.

Sorry - Edited to add that I’m new-ish and didn’t realise I’d made this post soooo long!!!! Apologies - I’ll work on being less ‘wordy’ for my next one!!!

I was involved in a missing persons case a few years ago involving a young man that went missing on a night out under not dis-similar circumstances to Anthony. He had left a club earlier than his friends a bit worse for wear, had taken a taxi back to his uni accommodation but for reasons unknown had got out the taxi 100 yards from where he was staying and walked in the opposite direction, again for reasons unknown.

He was caught on CCTV a couple of times and there were various witnesses that came forward having seen him and some also having spoken to him. Unfortunately none of them offered to help him.

He ended up walking a mile or so along a main road to the small town centre where he appeared on CCTV for the last time. There was a river flowing only a few metres from where he was last seen and many people (myself included) thought he’d ended up in the water due to a horrible accident.

The police were coordinating the searches and investigation and really did work so hard, however as with Anthony, all ‘official’ searches were called off after a couple of weeks as there was just nothing else to go on.

It had been a cold night and hypothermia was also a worry, experts brought in mapped out a ‘circle’, based on where he was last seen on CCTV to show the maximum area he could have travelled on foot in the cold weather conditions based on the various CCTV images and witness statements, they said that if he hadn’t left the area, based on the science they helped develop, there was no way he would be able to venture further than their diagram had shown.

The family, along with a handful of volunteers kept searching within the area of this same circle - the outskirts of the town were very hilly with trees, bushes etc and the terrains was rough in parts, but overall walkable.

He was eventually found, a good few miles out of the ‘circle’ that the experts said he couldn’t possibly reach. He had been suffering from hypothermia, had sat down against an old stone wall in a remote farmers field and the farmer found him in springtime when it was time to let his livestock back into the field, this was 3.5 months after he went missing. The combination of alcohol and the cold winter temps had been fatal.

I’m not suggesting this has happened to Anthony, but it just shows how alcohol and the elements do not mix well and how a fit young man became so disoriented in the space of a couple of hours, in a small town that he made a couple of bad decisions he would never otherwise have made and probably didn’t even realise he needed help.

I’m not sure if it was cold enough on the night Anthony disappeared but perhaps the combination of alcohol and the elements resulted in him making decisions he never would normally and suffered an accident as a result.

If you made it through to the end of this post - thank you! I know it’s pretty long!

Em

I think the length of your post is just fine

Very interesting, thanks for the summary!

I brought it up here a couple of times already, that AK might have walked out of Lewes and/or that he might have sat down/fell asleep somewhere and succumbed to the cold. I can imagine that this is what happened and it would explain why he hasn't been found yet (if he's not in Lewes anymore).

MOO.

 

[Thelastleg]

Dbm

 

[ZsaZsa]

I think the length of your post is just fine

Very interesting, thanks for the summary!

I brought it up here a couple of times already, that AK might have walked out of Lewes and/or that he might have sat down/fell asleep somewhere and succumbed to the cold. I can imagine that this is what happened and it would explain why he hasn't been found yet (if he's not in Lewes anymore).

MOO.

I wonder if they have done drone searches of the surrounding areas? They have searched all the river /canal/marshy areas by foot and boat but maybe it's time to expand to the less obvious areas.

 

[LadyL]

That's interesting, like @Elainera has said there have been cases here in the past where experts have confirmed that it is possible to tell the difference between a phone being switched off and the battery dying (something to do with a different message being sent by the phone IIRC). I will have a look at FB as I'm surprised that she has managed to get that kind of defintive answer out of Apple

JMO

[bbm]

'experts' would not likely refer to Apple representatives but verified WS professionals in the field

Verified Professional and Insider Members

 

[BodyOfWater]

• So the police have given out wrong information then...

I have seen two instances where incorrect information has been released. This is why an updated statement, perhaps conference & appeal is vital. There should be many more witnesses & with each day that ticks by, memories may fade & CCTV & dashcam footage may get wiped..

 

[BodyOfWater]

I wonder if they have done drone searches of the surrounding areas? They have searched all the river /canal/marshy areas by foot and boat but maybe it's time to expand to the less obvious areas.

Which less obvious areas would you suggest around Lewes?