UK UK - Kevin Hicks, 16, Croydon, 2 Mar 1986

[THX]

Not sure what you mean.All we have are theories in the absence of many facts.

I am basing my theory on a working knowledge of that area. I was born in Baring Road (that is very near to the shop) and walked past Kevin's road on my way to school every day till I was 12. My parents still live there. I therefore know the area very well. I also had two kids who were once sixteen year olds. Believe me I heard some "egg" stories. If Kevin went to the store then getting eggs was not his only motive. I think he wanted to go and see someone. However, he is seen alive in the Shirley Road and making his way home or back to his bike at the shop. The trip to the shop may not be the significant thing or even the reason Kevin went visiting unless something happened during the visit that caused someone to follow him.

Originally I suggested Kevin had got the bus into Croydon as the information about the Shirley Road sighting and the bike was not in the public domain. I find this odd.

The school seems to have said very little at all, but I doubt it has anything to do with not wanting Kevin to be seen as lying. As for friends, it would depend on who they were. There are friends and there are people who claim to be friends. Could be drug dealers or something shady given the presence of the speakers. Where did the speakers come from? Why did Kevin need to hide them?

I have said it before and will say it again from personal experience. Lower Addiscombe Road can be busy and deserted within moments. Cars come fast and do not always stop at the crossing by what at the time was the Black Horse pub. A hit and run with a body would be ever so easy. It is a theory.

What is intriguing is that the police searched the Shirley Hills, Ashburton and probably Bingham Park. There may be information the public has not been given. Why would you search a park for a missing 16 year old so quickly? Indeed, why would they search Shirley Hills which is not all that near? Perhaps there is a connection between where Kevin went, the speakers and his disappearance.

I think they have always been looking for a body for some reason. There has to have been an early reason to look where they did for a body. Then we have the woman who rang the Croydon Advertiserclaiming to know where the body was andnow they want to speak to her again....


What I don't get is why information is so late in coming out. My suspicion is the police have a better idea than we know, but cannot find the proof they need.

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.

 

[StillDiggin]

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]

Kevin Hicks podcast with his sister

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid07CAWtZycD4x2TpPiiq6ktMJH3QZfWcKDLKEgRuptPTr5Q8TJzVeSHhQhuDjUaX36l&id=100044482807395

 

[ChatteringBirds]

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.

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]

It looks like the victim just found was a woman, Sarah Mayhew, a recent victim. Kevin remains missing.

 

[THX]

I wonder if john thornton was looked at as a potential suspect in this case. He lived nearby, was a member of Sidney Cooke gang and received a five year prison sentence in 1987 for offences against children.

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.

 

[approveds]

Schoolboy missing for 30 years was groomed before he was 'murdered', detectives believe

It seems pretty significant to me that the police are now saying they believe Kevin was groomed and citing his new speakers in this, and that the egg story was a ruse. The shopping trip was one of only a few canonical facts about the case. It is very interesting. Someone knows.

No one in the shop he said he was going to remembers him that night. It was dark when he left home at 8-40 pm. He did not take his keys, suggesting he might have been going cruising where it was dark and keys could get lost.

 

[THX]

No one in the shop he said he was going to remembers him that night. It was dark when he left home at 8-40 pm. He did not take his keys, suggesting he might have been going cruising where it was dark and keys could get lost.

That would appear to be the most likely scenario. They say that when kids go missing, sex is usually a large part of it. The other possibility is drugs, but Kevin doesn't seem to have gone out of the house much and it's likely his family would have picked up on the side effects. Interestingly, his mother said that Kevin had been bullied at school several months previously, but had arranged to change groups at school to avoid the bullies. I wonder what he was being bullied about.