As a local resident, maybe you can shed some further light. A friend of mine who's also from Croydon and lived there during the 80s told me that in a number of the local parks, groups of men used to congregate and bother local kids. He talked about how the park keeper in his local park had to ask them to leave. It seems that after dark the parks were also used by people looking for sex. The police were aware of that and it's why they searched the parks. As for the story about the bike - Kevin's sister has categorically confirmed that he did not take his bike with him.
UK UK - Kevin Hicks, 16, Croydon, 2 Mar 1986
- Thread starter WhyaDuck?
- Start date
New Posts
-
Spain Jay Slater, 19, missing on holiday in Tenerife, 17 June 2024 #3
- Latest: imstilla.grandma
StillDiggin
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2020
- Messages
- 3,242
- Reaction score
- 13,322
Sister of boy missing for 37 years believes he left flowers at their mother’s funeral
Ms Hicks talks about cruel online trolls who tell her to stop ‘wasting her time’.
londonnewsonline.co.uk
StillDiggin
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2020
- Messages
- 3,242
- Reaction score
- 13,322
Kevin Hicks podcast with his sister
ChatteringBirds
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2019
- Messages
- 9,853
- Reaction score
- 49,242
A victim found in Croydon. I don't want to cause speculation. I don't know that it could be plausibly him after so long, but just including a link because of the location.
www.bbc.com
Croydon: Murder investigation as human remains found in park
The remains were found at Rowdown Fields in Croydon on Tuesday morning.
www.bbc.com
ChatteringBirds
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2019
- Messages
- 9,853
- Reaction score
- 49,242
It looks like the victim just found was a woman, Sarah Mayhew, a recent victim. Kevin remains missing.
Looking at newspaper articles from the time, I don't think Kevin was the Sidney Cooke gangs type at all. He was too old, too big and wasn't from a vulnerable background. Grooming with expensive gifts like stereo speakers also absolutely wasn't their style. They used drugs and drink on young runaway kids from chaotic backgrounds. Sadly, there were too many of that type of kid in London back then and they had a very ready supply.
I've been going through some old newspaper reports Kevin's case and found some interesting further information:
• Kevin's mother was interviewed in an article in 1991. She said that Kevin had been bullied at school a couple of months before he disappeared, but it doesn't say what for. He apparently asked the school to change his classes to get away from the bullies. She also said that the family had considered whether Kevin had been on drugs or has been gay, but since his sister Alexandra was socially outgoing when Kevin was introverted, and she knew pretty much all of Kevin's friends, they discounted the possibility as all of his friends had said he hadn't taken drugs / wasn't gay. Of course, that doesn't rule out either. I suspect it would have possibly been easier to tell if he was taking drugs (especially as he rarely went out), but certainly back in those days if you were a gay school kid, your friends were the absolute last people you'd tell as you could be fairly sure you'd get a bad reaction (and someone who'd already been bullied would have been accurately aware of that).
• Police back in 1986 were looking to see if there were any potential links to Victor Miller but didn't find anything. Victor Miller abducted and murdered 14 year old paper boy Stuart Gough in Worcestershire in 1988. Miller has also attacked a number of other boys, dating back to 1979 in Brighton. After he was released from jail in 1983 he lived in Wolverhampton. Miller is highly unusual in that he attacked teenage boys older and bigger than Kevin was, including one 6' tall 18 year old who managed to fight him off.
• Kevin's family said that they went to Brighton to search for him, in case he had gone to look for work there. It underlines how easy it is to get to Brighton from Croydon, but it begs the question why they thought Kevin may have gone there. Had he spoken about going there? Had he already been? We know now that Brighton attracted some of the worst sex offenders in Britain at the time and also had a bad drugs problem. And of course it also had a large gay community.
• Another article from 1986 said that Kevin would regularly go for walks in Shirley Hills. It is a local beauty spot and popular with locals, but also has a reputation as being somewhat dangerous after dark. Apart from a number of kids being arrested there for antisocial behaviour, there was at least one murder there, in 1992, where a homophobic man who had been attacking gay men murdered a man in Shirley Hills and attempted to bury his body there. He also had a conviction for sexually attacking a school girl. Shirley Hills was searched by police after Kevin disappeared.
• In early 1988, the newspaper reported that two men, driving along late one Saturday night, reported a potential abduction of a child. They witnessed a man dragging a crying 5 year old along the road and thought it highly unusual at that time of night. The road that it was on, Coombe Lane, was also notorious for having a public toilet that was used for cruising for sex. Coombe Lane is right beside Shirley Hills and leads on to Shirley Road, where Kevin was last seen. The police thoroughly searched Shirley Hills again, and Lloyd Park which adjoins it.
• Another local man was murdered by the now notorious "M25 gang" in 1988. The gang has committed violent burglaries along the M25. The man they murdered, Peter Hurburgh, was also known to frequent Shirley Hills for sex but doesn't appear to have been there that night.
• Despite the fact that it was a "nicer" part of Croydon where Kevin lived, there was a lot of other crime in the local area. In 1987, the year after Kevin's disappearance, the local newspaper reported on the arrest of a man for drugs offences who lived literally in the next street to Kevin. When he was arrested, he was in the company of one of his friends who was then also arrested by the police on suspicion of being a contract killer (!) responsible for the murder of a scrap dealer in central Croydon. This man's trial later collapsed due to lack of evidence. It perhaps underlines the possibility that Kevin's grooming may not have been sexual. Grooming is also used by criminal / drugs gangs to lure kids in. Did Kevin get involved with drugs or crime? Were those speakers he had stolen goods?
• The 1986 article mention the speakers that Kevin had, but say that he bought them with his own money that he got from a bonus from his job at the Co-op. When the police re-investigated in 2016, they said that was not the case and the speakers had come to him via the person who had groomed him. It's not clear whether they believe that person gave Kevin money and he bought the speakers with them, or whether the speakers were given directly. What evidence did the police come across to make them change their mind and think grooming has taken place?
• Kevin's life gives few hints to his disappearance. He had been applying for a number of jobs, and an offer of an interview at the Bank of England arrived the day after his disappearance. Kevin had also decided he was going to get a motorbike and had received his provisional licence. On the day before his disappearance, he had told his dad he had no money but wanted to go ice skating with his friend Andrew. His dad lent him the money and he went, presumably to an ice rink in central Croydon. One of the saddest parts of the story was about his dog - who would go and sleep in Kevin's bedroom every night after he disappeared. Given it was a German Shepherd and Kevin seems to have been close to the dog, why didn't he take it with him the night he disappeared? What was Kevin planning to do that night? Kevin comes across as a mature lad, but somewhat introverted. The Crimewatch slot about him said he rarely went out.
* Kevin's bedroom was described as having a view over two main roads, being at the end of the block. Had somebody come and waved to him to come out that night?
* The police in 1986 summed up the mystery of this case. They said "Either Kevin wanted to get out of the area very badly, or something terrible has happened to him. Given the length of time that has elapsed, we suspect the later may now be more likely. But if that is the case, why haven't we found his body?" The 2016 re-investigation seems to have changed everything. They said Kevin had been groomed and that they believed he had been murdered "within hours of leaving the house" that night. What evidence had they found to change their position? They also said that they were confident that there are people in Croydon who know what happened to Kevin.
• Kevin's mother was interviewed in an article in 1991. She said that Kevin had been bullied at school a couple of months before he disappeared, but it doesn't say what for. He apparently asked the school to change his classes to get away from the bullies. She also said that the family had considered whether Kevin had been on drugs or has been gay, but since his sister Alexandra was socially outgoing when Kevin was introverted, and she knew pretty much all of Kevin's friends, they discounted the possibility as all of his friends had said he hadn't taken drugs / wasn't gay. Of course, that doesn't rule out either. I suspect it would have possibly been easier to tell if he was taking drugs (especially as he rarely went out), but certainly back in those days if you were a gay school kid, your friends were the absolute last people you'd tell as you could be fairly sure you'd get a bad reaction (and someone who'd already been bullied would have been accurately aware of that).
• Police back in 1986 were looking to see if there were any potential links to Victor Miller but didn't find anything. Victor Miller abducted and murdered 14 year old paper boy Stuart Gough in Worcestershire in 1988. Miller has also attacked a number of other boys, dating back to 1979 in Brighton. After he was released from jail in 1983 he lived in Wolverhampton. Miller is highly unusual in that he attacked teenage boys older and bigger than Kevin was, including one 6' tall 18 year old who managed to fight him off.
• Kevin's family said that they went to Brighton to search for him, in case he had gone to look for work there. It underlines how easy it is to get to Brighton from Croydon, but it begs the question why they thought Kevin may have gone there. Had he spoken about going there? Had he already been? We know now that Brighton attracted some of the worst sex offenders in Britain at the time and also had a bad drugs problem. And of course it also had a large gay community.
• Another article from 1986 said that Kevin would regularly go for walks in Shirley Hills. It is a local beauty spot and popular with locals, but also has a reputation as being somewhat dangerous after dark. Apart from a number of kids being arrested there for antisocial behaviour, there was at least one murder there, in 1992, where a homophobic man who had been attacking gay men murdered a man in Shirley Hills and attempted to bury his body there. He also had a conviction for sexually attacking a school girl. Shirley Hills was searched by police after Kevin disappeared.
• In early 1988, the newspaper reported that two men, driving along late one Saturday night, reported a potential abduction of a child. They witnessed a man dragging a crying 5 year old along the road and thought it highly unusual at that time of night. The road that it was on, Coombe Lane, was also notorious for having a public toilet that was used for cruising for sex. Coombe Lane is right beside Shirley Hills and leads on to Shirley Road, where Kevin was last seen. The police thoroughly searched Shirley Hills again, and Lloyd Park which adjoins it.
• Another local man was murdered by the now notorious "M25 gang" in 1988. The gang has committed violent burglaries along the M25. The man they murdered, Peter Hurburgh, was also known to frequent Shirley Hills for sex but doesn't appear to have been there that night.
• Despite the fact that it was a "nicer" part of Croydon where Kevin lived, there was a lot of other crime in the local area. In 1987, the year after Kevin's disappearance, the local newspaper reported on the arrest of a man for drugs offences who lived literally in the next street to Kevin. When he was arrested, he was in the company of one of his friends who was then also arrested by the police on suspicion of being a contract killer (!) responsible for the murder of a scrap dealer in central Croydon. This man's trial later collapsed due to lack of evidence. It perhaps underlines the possibility that Kevin's grooming may not have been sexual. Grooming is also used by criminal / drugs gangs to lure kids in. Did Kevin get involved with drugs or crime? Were those speakers he had stolen goods?
• The 1986 article mention the speakers that Kevin had, but say that he bought them with his own money that he got from a bonus from his job at the Co-op. When the police re-investigated in 2016, they said that was not the case and the speakers had come to him via the person who had groomed him. It's not clear whether they believe that person gave Kevin money and he bought the speakers with them, or whether the speakers were given directly. What evidence did the police come across to make them change their mind and think grooming has taken place?
• Kevin's life gives few hints to his disappearance. He had been applying for a number of jobs, and an offer of an interview at the Bank of England arrived the day after his disappearance. Kevin had also decided he was going to get a motorbike and had received his provisional licence. On the day before his disappearance, he had told his dad he had no money but wanted to go ice skating with his friend Andrew. His dad lent him the money and he went, presumably to an ice rink in central Croydon. One of the saddest parts of the story was about his dog - who would go and sleep in Kevin's bedroom every night after he disappeared. Given it was a German Shepherd and Kevin seems to have been close to the dog, why didn't he take it with him the night he disappeared? What was Kevin planning to do that night? Kevin comes across as a mature lad, but somewhat introverted. The Crimewatch slot about him said he rarely went out.
* Kevin's bedroom was described as having a view over two main roads, being at the end of the block. Had somebody come and waved to him to come out that night?
* The police in 1986 summed up the mystery of this case. They said "Either Kevin wanted to get out of the area very badly, or something terrible has happened to him. Given the length of time that has elapsed, we suspect the later may now be more likely. But if that is the case, why haven't we found his body?" The 2016 re-investigation seems to have changed everything. They said Kevin had been groomed and that they believed he had been murdered "within hours of leaving the house" that night. What evidence had they found to change their position? They also said that they were confident that there are people in Croydon who know what happened to Kevin.