UK UK - Damien Nettles, 16, Isle of Wight England, 2 Nov 1996

[benowens]

Welcome to Ws @benowens!
Just adding a link to support statement..

Damien Nettles: The boy who disappeared

Twenty years after a 16-year-old boy vanished on a night out in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, the BBC has spent months reinvestigating the case.

www.bbc.com

2016 rbbm
''Minutes later - at 11:59 and in the same location - another witness, a foster carer waiting to pick up a child off the bus, was in his car. He described Damien as: "A miserable figure, huddled eating chips."
This foster carer told police the person was approximately 6ft and fitted Damien's description, and was carrying a camera. He said the teenager walked towards him in his car, and that he "looked drugged, and seemed to bank heavily into the car".

The teenager said twice to him: "They are watching us."
After that, the boy wiped rain off his car window and walked off towards the Pier View public house, on the High Street.

Minutes later Damien was caught on street CCTV and then vanished.''

The "they're watching us" quote is virtually always used as supposed evidence as foul play. I think this report definitely supports my theory. Sadly I think this is another Nicola Bulley case where the family want to blame someone rather than accept that their family member had a tragic accident.

 

[CrackerC119]

After years of sleuthing this case and being ambivalent about all of the possible outcomes, not really developing a theory, I've finally come to the theory that Damien's remains are on the island and that the copse and the flat complex being built at the time are likely to provide answers.

I want to know though, how likely is it that a construction site worker would have access out of hours to said site and use that access to despose of a body (pre-CCTV being common). How likely can a body lay under the foundations of a block of flats undisturbed...how easy would it be to cover up a body and it not be noticed by any of the other site workers? I am not au fait with construction and excavation. Is there any way now that the foundations of a completed building can be scanned to check for anomalies in them?

My supporting theory for this is that the police worked with the Island tourist and finance organisations and knew that the cost of uprooting an apartment complex would be significant and not to mention make for bad press if a body was discovered. I suspect that the police discovered the truth and neglected the case. I also feel that some unprofessionalism or unsavoury actions on behalf of the police took part that night that only strengthened their desire to sweep this case under the carpet.

 

[CrackerC119]

After reading comments by Damien's family and other online sources and re-evaluating the documentary. I now strongly believe that he is buried in a wooded area on the island. I won't say where it is because his family may want to keep it annonymous so that they can one day recover his body but the location of it surpised me when I looked at the maps and saw what was near by.

I believe that a person involved in the documentary was involved in Damien's disappearance *just my belief, I'm not saying this is the truth. I believe the man who was said to keep repeating "no body, no crime" was the perpetrator. I believe Lynne Hammond's theory to be true. And the more I think about it, I believe his family do too. They worked with Lynne and put trust in her, so I doubt they would let her say what she said if they didn't believe it.

In the BBC documentary, Bronagh received a lot of criticism for the way she confronted a certain person. The more I think about it, the more I understand her approach. She wanted to make them believe that she had incriminating evidence to put him in a state of admittance. She said "I've worked on this case for 6 months". I get the feeling, like in many other cases, those investigating know who did it but can't legally put them in the frame to secure a conviction. I've also heard suggestions that the person confronted left the island very quickly after Damien's disappearance. I never thought I'd reach a conclusion in this case but I feel that I have. I hope his family have found a conclusion themselves and that understanding what happened somehow helped them to live with this terrible tragedy. Damien had his whole life ahead of him and if* someone took it from him, that's a great shame for him and his family. I hope they've found a way to remember him and the happy times. The Isle Of Wight police are a disgrace.

 

[meanmaryjean]

I believe this is a true crime show producing an episode on Damian's disappearance.

New creative project explores the mystery of Damien Nettles' disappearance: Creative apprenticeship and open casting opportunity

Damien Nettles' unsolved case becomes focus of upcoming creative endeavour

onthewight.com

 

[dotr]

May 5 '24

My son vanished 28 years ago - I'll never forgive cops for what they said to me

THE mum of a teenage boy who vanished without a trace nearly 30 years ago says an “abysmal” police investigation is to blame. Valerie Nettles has never given up her search for Damien, w…

www.thesun.co.uk