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

[RobinCAL]

Family of missing firefighter ‘not giving up’ as police search is called off

 

[Dogtopia]

Yes - they are close. It has been the speculation about Anthony going to the shop (Waitrose - though I'm sure they'd have CCTV) and him going anywhere near the water (located down further and behind Waitrose) that made me mention the pubs' locations. If he had gone downhill, it was a long-ish way uphill that's easy to get lost to come back up to the pub.

I see that The Paddock/Baxters Field have still not been searched according to the map that locals have filled in. So close to the sighting by the zebra crossing.

Along the road away from the elephant and castle there are a lot of high embankments

New theory: could he have tried to make his way back to one of the previous pubs (Landsdown Arms, Royal Oak)? Lost his way? Couldn't find the way back?

As an aside, looking at the several cctv clips I found myself puzzled that this was described as a very busy night when everyone and their uncle are out for Xmas drinks/dinners/shopping/socializing etc. To me it looks like the dead of night. If I hadn't been told I would have thought the footage was from 3am or 4am. I expected crowds of people, heavy traffic etc. Instead we have one van passing a couple and someone standing opposite, or three people walking down the sidewalk in a dark empty street ....

Nope it's just a small town I've been out 8am on a Sunday and if feels like North Korean ghost town

 

[Elainera]

Nope it's just a small town I've been out 8am on a Sunday and if feels like North Korean ghost town

Lol I didn't want to be so blunt but yes, something like that. Could he have been bored? He is based in London right?

 

[Tommy Turtle]

There is something seriously strange about all of this.

In all the CCTV I have seen, he does not appear to be inebriated to the extent he would walk into a body of water of unknown depth, especially given his job and training.

So what else is there? Could he be involved in something more nefarious that somebody else would want him dead? A drug dealer? Having an affair?

 

[Sarahlou]

Curious what you think, obviously in your opinion? Apart from the coke buying, which is possible, but IMO unlikely- there seems to be little in the way of possible theories at the moment to discuss. Police don’t seem to be appealing much either for help.

It's so hard to guess, it is a strange case. I don't think coke has anything to do with it but who knows.
All I think is the police and people he knows have an idea why he went off but aren't saying yet, for whatever reason. I think something must have happened that night that triggered him into going off.

 

[Rosegold68]

I keep going back over it all and always come back to a meet up of some kind

away from home for an extended pre planned period of time.... if he wanted to ‘play away’ try something different away from anyone who might know him, well, this was his chance

then again yes, he may have fallen in the river

 

[supersleuth1974]

Corrie mckeague est..... Are there any bins to get in for a kip ??

If he's not drunk enough to go into water then , he's either attempted to sleep it off before heading home or met with someone for something he's not supposed to.

 

[Blondie67]

I haven't heard of any but you'd like to think so.

Yes it said they had used dogs, drones, divers, the lot.

Fiancee of missing firefighter posts heartbreaking direct message to him

On the day of Mr Knott's disappearance Lucy had dropped him off at another pub at 12.30pm where his last words to her were "love you, bye".

"And then I drove off and that was it," said Ms Otto.

Several hours later, Anthony was seen leaving The Lamb at around 7.30pm.

Maybe he went to get something to eat, a burger or something. Then he lost his mates, but surely they would of said we're they were going, or rang him but his phone was off.

 

[ZsaZsa]

There is something seriously strange about all of this.

In all the CCTV I have seen, he does not appear to be inebriated to the extent he would walk into a body of water of unknown depth, especially given his job and training.

So what else is there? Could he be involved in something more nefarious that somebody else would want him dead? A drug dealer? Having an affair?

Mugged for his phone, and injured?

 

[Blondie67]

The girl in the video were they are outside the pub smoking, is that the same girl were there are 3 of them down the street. One bloke across the road staring at them and one walking up on the same side as them?. Looks like her that's all.

 

[Blondie67]

Mugged for his phone, and injured?

Yeah but if injured he would be in hospital or have been found. It is 12 days ago.

 

[ZsaZsa]

Yeah but if injured he would be in hospital or have been found. It is 12 days ago.

Or drowned.

 

[Blondie67]

Do you think they could of retrieved something with his phone and that's why the police are saying he's still in the town maybe?

If that's the case, why have they stopped searching Lewes. Maybe his phone has pinged in another town or near his home ?

 

[Blondie67]

Someone could have stolen it and they might live 30 miles away. It would ping on the satellite 30 miles away, but it might not be him. Especially if it's been pinched.

 

[Wowno17]

I don't think his fiancees comments were strange. I think she simply meant if he was having an affair or gone off on his own that the situation wasn't too big to come back from.

 

[Blondie67]

Cops search pool & river for fireman, 33, who vanished after pub crawl

“He had planned to get a cab with one of his friends or get a train to Croydon.

“Anthony’s not a big drinker, even when he did have a drink he wasn’t a paralytic drunk, you could still have a conversation with him.

“Anthony is capable of looking after himself.

“He is trained in survival, he is not going to walk into a flooded area he is going to turn around and go a different way.”

Wouldn't it be far more logical he was looking for a cab or made his way to the train station. On the Station road (just crossing the road from Fisher street) is a taxi stand (in most city's they are) as far as I can see in front of the station building (GM taxi's). It wasn't to late to take a train either. Are there no camera's on the station building? How did the group went to Lewes. By train? Then he would have known the route.

They went in Uber and got dropped off at the pub in Lewes.

 

[RobinCAL]

If that's the case, why have they stopped searching Lewes. Maybe his phone has pinged in another town or near his home ?

I said this before the search was stopped so it made sense then. I don't know why the search has been stopped but it's probably down to resources and lack of leads.

 

[Mimi in London]

The girl in the video were they are outside the pub smoking, is that the same girl were there are 3 of them down the street. One bloke across the road staring at them and one walking up on the same side as them?. Looks like her that's all.

I know what you mean, but I don’t think so as they are wearing different clothes. The girl smoking is wearing a hoodie or sweatshirt. The girl walking seems to be wearing a white shirt under something else.

 

[SheCarrot]

Newbie alert(!)
Somethings that struck me as odd quite early on - the devil being in the detail of relationship dynamics (not directed just to this case , necessarily) - the specifics of ....he said he'd be home for two(at the latest) as fiancé was to be at work for three ... it just seemed terribly precise an arrangement ( at the latter end of 'cutting it fine' , imo ) , where Anthony being home was crucial - I'm not sure I'd have been quite so accommodating toward the suggestion of such a late return (but maybe I'm just an old bag ) , but that aside -- you wouldn't really have to know Lewes in any great detail - just perhaps a smattering of general knowledge , to wonder what on earth they'd all be doing in the town to be still whooping it up until , potentially , gone midnight (accounting for getting an Uber home , which was what Anthony had said was the plan) .
(I love Lewes , btw , but it's not buzzing late at night) .
This leads me onto the business of grabbing an Uber home -- these guys , I'd hazard a guess , are not inexperienced at organising a beano , so I'm not really grabbed by any theory that they didn't know there wasn't an Uber service there .
The rest of the group returned home via train (about 9/10 o'clock , I recall) , without Anthony , and I'm not unconvinced this might have been the deal all along and that perhaps the 'I'll be home by 2 via Uber' was his plausible "arrangement" for domestic purposes .

I think the ongoing process of trawling through unchecked to-date CCTV will be more an exercise in verifying that he simply wasn't there any more to be seen .
A little meander , perhaps , accidental or otherwise , and then to the station - I'm not feeling , evidentially , that there was any intention to return to his friends at any of the pubs . I don't think he lost them , I think he simply left them .
(moo) .

 

[Tommy Turtle]

Mugged for his phone, and injured?

does anybody really do this any more? Firstly he looks to be a fairly burly bloke, and secondly, all decent modern phones are effectively a brick without the pin / biometrics and can be remotely blocked from use.

not saying it’s not possible but if you were going to mug somebody for their phone, would be more sensible to go for a lone slightly built drunk female?