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?
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StillDiggin
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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
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Kevin Hicks podcast with his sister
ChatteringBirds
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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
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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.
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.
Last edited:
Depends really on which era's laws you apply. In our era, the age of consent in the UK is 16, which Kevin was, so technically not paedophilia and not illegal. In the 1980s, the age of consent in the UK between men was unequal and was 21.
I've been going through some old newspaper reports about Kevin's case and found some interesting further information about Kevin’s life and character, what was going on in the area where he lived at the time, and convicted offenders who were either of interest to the police at the time or were from the area and had committed crimes against boys of Kevin’s age around that time. There’s quite a lot of information, but it’s all genuinely interesting. I’ve provided links to the newspaper articles, many of which appear on the British Newspaper Archive website and required a paid subscription, but I’ve summarised what the articles said.
Kevin’s Life and Personality:
• 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 had 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 for it would have been accurately aware of that).
Register | British Newspaper Archive
• Kevin's known life gives few hints to his disappearance. An April 1986 articles discusses how 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 for his age, and somewhat introverted. The Crimewatch slot about him said he rarely went out.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Offenders
• 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 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.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
We know that Croydon was absolutely crawling with sex offenders (notably 'The Dirty Dozen' but there were many other seemingly 'lone wolf' offenders. There were at least two offenders in that era in Croydon who were convicted for violent sexual attacks on lads around Kevin’s age. The first was a man called Anthony Jewhurst who lived in South Norwood but committed at least one crime in his grandmother’s flat in Clyde Road, Addiscombe, which a few streets away from Kevin’s home. The first reported incident he was linked to happened in July 1986. Jewhurst was charged with the murder of an 18 year old lad, Gavin Smith (sometimes spelled Smyth), after he was found stabbed to death near some garages where Jewhurst was renting one. Jewhurst had brought Smith there several days earlier, saying that he was going to be selling some speakers (The police said that Kevin was groomed with speakers). Blood stains matching Smith were found on the walls of Jewhurst’s garage, but in those days they were only able to test for blood group. Smith’s group was very common and it was not considered evidence enough to convict and he was acquitted. Jewhurst said that he was ‘trying to hide his homosexuality’. Jewhurst was in court again in 1992 and jailed for 7 years after he randomly approached a 19 year old lad in Kennington Park. He told the lad that he had a removal van and asked him if he wanted to make £50 by helping him to clear a house, one which turned out to be his grandmother’s house (who was in hospital at the time) in Clyde Road, Addiscombe, near where Kevin lived. Once there, Jewhurst asked the lad to move some furniture and when his back was he plunged a knife into him, puncturing his lung. A bizarre conversation then followed in which Jewhurst said to the dying lad something along the lines of that ‘if I [Jewhurst] was dying I’d like to have sex – will you have sex with me?’ The lad bluffed his way out of it and said if Jewhurst took him to hospital, he’d return and have sex with him. Unbelievably, Jewhurst did so and he was arrested. The lad thankfully made a full recovery.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
The second offender was a man called Derek Bradley of Upper Norwood. Bradley had a string of offence dating back to at least 1985 for violent sexual attacks on a lad that he had lured back to his home, including a 17 year old in 1985, a knife attack on another young man in 1992 and then an attack on a 20 year old who spurned his sexual advances in 1997. In that incident. Bradley knocked his young victim out and then pouted hot water from a kettle over him.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Other Incidents and Possibilities Nearby
• In 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 by gay men for cruising for sex. Coombe Lane is right beside Shirley Hills and leads on to Shirley Road, where Kevin was last seen. It’s also about a 20 minute walk from where Kevin’s school was. The police thoroughly searched Shirley Hills again, and Lloyd Park which adjoins it. As we’ll see below, the toilets on Coombe Lane attracted violence.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
• Another local gay 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, although the attack didn’t happen there.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
• 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. Just a couple of months after Kevin’s disappearance, the Co-op near Kevin’s home on Morland Road, Addiscombe (possibly the one Kevin worked in) was subject to an armed raid by two men aged about 20, in broad daylight one Monday afternoon. The manager was held at knifepoint and forced to hand over £2,000 in cash from the safe.
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. They were both arrested when walking together along Long Lane in Croydon, which intersects Shirley Road near where Kevin was last seen. What was happening in the area 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 police described the Sumner Road area of Croydon where the scrap dealer was shot (a 7 minute drive from Kevin’s home) in 1987 as a ‘notorious’ place for gangs and drugs. There was a further drugs incident in 1986 / 1987 when Customs raided a house in Ashburton Avenue in Addiscombe (a couple of streets from Kevin's home) and arrested two men for importing drugs from Spain. They had been monitoring the house for some time and the men were convicted in early 1987.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Violence against Youths and Homophobic Attacks
A gang of Croydon youths were also convicted in 1987 for attacking, wounding and robbing teenage boys aged 15-17 at knifepoint. When the gang were convicted, threats to kill the judge and jury were made in court and they had to be escorted home by police. The apparent ringleader of the gang was pretty much the same age as Kevin and lived very near to him in Addiscombe in Inglis Road – very possible that they would have gone to the same school and known each other.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19870925/005/0005
In 1982 a 17 year old was arrested outside toilets in Church Road Upper Norwood. He said that he had deliberately gone there to attack any gay man who propositioned him
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19820806/011/0011
In 1985, there was a report of another event when a group of young men travelled to Addiscombe to ‘scare homosexuals’. Police were called to the previously mentioned toilets in Coombe Lane in the early hours of the morning and it appears that some men were assaulted by the group. A number of women also had their handbags snatched by the group on different days.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003588/19850419/003/0003
In 1989, it was reported that Beaulieu Heights in South Norwood was being used by gay men for sex. The council’s park’s manager said that it was known that “several” local parks and toilets were used by gay men for sex. Bynes Road toilets, further South in Croydon, were also named in 1987.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19870904/019/0019
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19890616/001/0001
And finally, in August 1987, it was reported that three men had been attacked on Friday night in Ashburton Park (near where Kevin was last seen) by a gang of 10 youths with sticks and metal bars. It doesn’t say what either party was doing in the park that night.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19870807/006/0006
Details of Kevin’s Case
• The 1986 article below 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?
Register | British Newspaper Archive
https://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk...30-years-groomed-murdered-detectives-believe/
* 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? Kevin’s family said that on that night, he had taken a bath then as he went out, he emptied all of his pockets, removing his provisional driving licence, several Pound coins and keys. He only took the £1 for the eggs and chocolate buttons he was going to buy. This perhaps seems slightly strange. One possible explanation is that he was going somewhere where might lose them, or they may be stolen. It’s maybe reading too much into it, but it sounds like the kind of thing someone would do if they were going to go cruising for sex in the parklands nearby which were used for it: the likes Shirley Hills and Ashburton Park, near where Kevin was last seen. It’s all speculation, but perhaps Kevin went to Shirley Hills and after a while there with nobody about (given that it was such a cold night), he went to look at what was happening in Ashburton Park.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19870306/006/0006
Register | British Newspaper Archive
• It was reported 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 man ‘notorious amongst his friends for his hatred of gays’, (Kevin Gallagher) who had been attacking gay men murdered a man in Shirley Hills and attempted to bury his body there. Two 17 year olds were also charged, and one said that Gallagher had taken him on previous ‘missions’ to rob gay men “at a notorious night time meeting place for gays” (possibly why Kevin Hicks emptied his pockets before he went out??). Gallagher also had a conviction for sexually attacking a school girl, and three others on women. Shirley Hills was searched by police after Kevin disappeared. Shirley Hills was described as a ‘notorious late night meeting place for homosexuals’.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003760/19921217/001/0001
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19871016/013/0013
Register | British Newspaper Archive
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003760/19921210/001/0001
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003671/19921203/008/0008
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19920501/001/0001
* Kevin was last seen near the Cricketers Pub on Shirley Road, near Ashburton Park at around 22:15 – around 90 minutes after he’d left the house. Where did he go during that time?
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19870306/006/0006
* 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.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
https://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk...30-years-groomed-murdered-detectives-believe/
* It’s also an odd coincidence, but the killer of April Jones in Wales (Mark Bridger) actually went to Kevin’s school and would have been there when Kevin was there. Bridger four years older than Kevin.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/30/mark-bridger-april-jones-killer-fantasy-life
In summary, the key to the case seems to be in finding out where Kevin went after he left the house, and how he ended up walking North on Shirley Road near Ashburton Park. The shop he was supposed to go to seems slightly to the West of his house, but Shirley Road is further away to the East. Walking North along Shirley Road implies that he had been somewhere to the South. Apart from residential streets, the only things directly to the South were Shirley Hills, the adjoining Lloyd Park, and Kevin’s school. However, if he’d been to Shirley Hills then (depending on the exit he may have taken) there were more direct routes home than Shirley Road. This may imply that his immediate destination wasn’t home, but Ashburton Park. Apparently Police these days look very closely at a victim’s movements in the 24 hours before they disappear. We know that Kevin had gone to the ice rink the night before, and spent the morning in the Park the day he disappeared.
There seems to be no end of possibilities about what actually happened to Kevin. It’s not fully clear from what the Police said as to whether they believed the person who they believe groomed him had killed him, or whether it was a chance encounter with someone else. What is certain though is that they would either have needed a car to dispose of his body, disposed of it on their own property, or in a more remote area if they had met Kevin there. If Kevin did enter Ashburton Park, as seems very possible, then he could have been attacked by any number of people. If he had been to see the person who was grooming him, why was he then on the street again on Shirley Road 90 minutes later? Did this person follow him? One thing does seem probable: that as with many teenagers, there were things happening in Kevin’s life that his family and immediate friends were not aware of.
Kevin’s Life and Personality:
• 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 had 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 for it would have been accurately aware of that).
Register | British Newspaper Archive
• Kevin's known life gives few hints to his disappearance. An April 1986 articles discusses how 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 for his age, and somewhat introverted. The Crimewatch slot about him said he rarely went out.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Offenders
• 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 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.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
We know that Croydon was absolutely crawling with sex offenders (notably 'The Dirty Dozen' but there were many other seemingly 'lone wolf' offenders. There were at least two offenders in that era in Croydon who were convicted for violent sexual attacks on lads around Kevin’s age. The first was a man called Anthony Jewhurst who lived in South Norwood but committed at least one crime in his grandmother’s flat in Clyde Road, Addiscombe, which a few streets away from Kevin’s home. The first reported incident he was linked to happened in July 1986. Jewhurst was charged with the murder of an 18 year old lad, Gavin Smith (sometimes spelled Smyth), after he was found stabbed to death near some garages where Jewhurst was renting one. Jewhurst had brought Smith there several days earlier, saying that he was going to be selling some speakers (The police said that Kevin was groomed with speakers). Blood stains matching Smith were found on the walls of Jewhurst’s garage, but in those days they were only able to test for blood group. Smith’s group was very common and it was not considered evidence enough to convict and he was acquitted. Jewhurst said that he was ‘trying to hide his homosexuality’. Jewhurst was in court again in 1992 and jailed for 7 years after he randomly approached a 19 year old lad in Kennington Park. He told the lad that he had a removal van and asked him if he wanted to make £50 by helping him to clear a house, one which turned out to be his grandmother’s house (who was in hospital at the time) in Clyde Road, Addiscombe, near where Kevin lived. Once there, Jewhurst asked the lad to move some furniture and when his back was he plunged a knife into him, puncturing his lung. A bizarre conversation then followed in which Jewhurst said to the dying lad something along the lines of that ‘if I [Jewhurst] was dying I’d like to have sex – will you have sex with me?’ The lad bluffed his way out of it and said if Jewhurst took him to hospital, he’d return and have sex with him. Unbelievably, Jewhurst did so and he was arrested. The lad thankfully made a full recovery.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
The second offender was a man called Derek Bradley of Upper Norwood. Bradley had a string of offence dating back to at least 1985 for violent sexual attacks on a lad that he had lured back to his home, including a 17 year old in 1985, a knife attack on another young man in 1992 and then an attack on a 20 year old who spurned his sexual advances in 1997. In that incident. Bradley knocked his young victim out and then pouted hot water from a kettle over him.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Other Incidents and Possibilities Nearby
• In 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 by gay men for cruising for sex. Coombe Lane is right beside Shirley Hills and leads on to Shirley Road, where Kevin was last seen. It’s also about a 20 minute walk from where Kevin’s school was. The police thoroughly searched Shirley Hills again, and Lloyd Park which adjoins it. As we’ll see below, the toilets on Coombe Lane attracted violence.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
• Another local gay 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, although the attack didn’t happen there.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
• 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. Just a couple of months after Kevin’s disappearance, the Co-op near Kevin’s home on Morland Road, Addiscombe (possibly the one Kevin worked in) was subject to an armed raid by two men aged about 20, in broad daylight one Monday afternoon. The manager was held at knifepoint and forced to hand over £2,000 in cash from the safe.
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. They were both arrested when walking together along Long Lane in Croydon, which intersects Shirley Road near where Kevin was last seen. What was happening in the area 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 police described the Sumner Road area of Croydon where the scrap dealer was shot (a 7 minute drive from Kevin’s home) in 1987 as a ‘notorious’ place for gangs and drugs. There was a further drugs incident in 1986 / 1987 when Customs raided a house in Ashburton Avenue in Addiscombe (a couple of streets from Kevin's home) and arrested two men for importing drugs from Spain. They had been monitoring the house for some time and the men were convicted in early 1987.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Register | British Newspaper Archive
Violence against Youths and Homophobic Attacks
A gang of Croydon youths were also convicted in 1987 for attacking, wounding and robbing teenage boys aged 15-17 at knifepoint. When the gang were convicted, threats to kill the judge and jury were made in court and they had to be escorted home by police. The apparent ringleader of the gang was pretty much the same age as Kevin and lived very near to him in Addiscombe in Inglis Road – very possible that they would have gone to the same school and known each other.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19870925/005/0005
In 1982 a 17 year old was arrested outside toilets in Church Road Upper Norwood. He said that he had deliberately gone there to attack any gay man who propositioned him
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19820806/011/0011
In 1985, there was a report of another event when a group of young men travelled to Addiscombe to ‘scare homosexuals’. Police were called to the previously mentioned toilets in Coombe Lane in the early hours of the morning and it appears that some men were assaulted by the group. A number of women also had their handbags snatched by the group on different days.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003588/19850419/003/0003
In 1989, it was reported that Beaulieu Heights in South Norwood was being used by gay men for sex. The council’s park’s manager said that it was known that “several” local parks and toilets were used by gay men for sex. Bynes Road toilets, further South in Croydon, were also named in 1987.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19870904/019/0019
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19890616/001/0001
And finally, in August 1987, it was reported that three men had been attacked on Friday night in Ashburton Park (near where Kevin was last seen) by a gang of 10 youths with sticks and metal bars. It doesn’t say what either party was doing in the park that night.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19870807/006/0006
Details of Kevin’s Case
• The 1986 article below 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?
Register | British Newspaper Archive
https://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk...30-years-groomed-murdered-detectives-believe/
* 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? Kevin’s family said that on that night, he had taken a bath then as he went out, he emptied all of his pockets, removing his provisional driving licence, several Pound coins and keys. He only took the £1 for the eggs and chocolate buttons he was going to buy. This perhaps seems slightly strange. One possible explanation is that he was going somewhere where might lose them, or they may be stolen. It’s maybe reading too much into it, but it sounds like the kind of thing someone would do if they were going to go cruising for sex in the parklands nearby which were used for it: the likes Shirley Hills and Ashburton Park, near where Kevin was last seen. It’s all speculation, but perhaps Kevin went to Shirley Hills and after a while there with nobody about (given that it was such a cold night), he went to look at what was happening in Ashburton Park.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19870306/006/0006
Register | British Newspaper Archive
• It was reported 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 man ‘notorious amongst his friends for his hatred of gays’, (Kevin Gallagher) who had been attacking gay men murdered a man in Shirley Hills and attempted to bury his body there. Two 17 year olds were also charged, and one said that Gallagher had taken him on previous ‘missions’ to rob gay men “at a notorious night time meeting place for gays” (possibly why Kevin Hicks emptied his pockets before he went out??). Gallagher also had a conviction for sexually attacking a school girl, and three others on women. Shirley Hills was searched by police after Kevin disappeared. Shirley Hills was described as a ‘notorious late night meeting place for homosexuals’.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003760/19921217/001/0001
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19871016/013/0013
Register | British Newspaper Archive
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003760/19921210/001/0001
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003671/19921203/008/0008
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19920501/001/0001
* Kevin was last seen near the Cricketers Pub on Shirley Road, near Ashburton Park at around 22:15 – around 90 minutes after he’d left the house. Where did he go during that time?
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003614/19870306/006/0006
* 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.
Register | British Newspaper Archive
https://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk...30-years-groomed-murdered-detectives-believe/
* It’s also an odd coincidence, but the killer of April Jones in Wales (Mark Bridger) actually went to Kevin’s school and would have been there when Kevin was there. Bridger four years older than Kevin.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/30/mark-bridger-april-jones-killer-fantasy-life
In summary, the key to the case seems to be in finding out where Kevin went after he left the house, and how he ended up walking North on Shirley Road near Ashburton Park. The shop he was supposed to go to seems slightly to the West of his house, but Shirley Road is further away to the East. Walking North along Shirley Road implies that he had been somewhere to the South. Apart from residential streets, the only things directly to the South were Shirley Hills, the adjoining Lloyd Park, and Kevin’s school. However, if he’d been to Shirley Hills then (depending on the exit he may have taken) there were more direct routes home than Shirley Road. This may imply that his immediate destination wasn’t home, but Ashburton Park. Apparently Police these days look very closely at a victim’s movements in the 24 hours before they disappear. We know that Kevin had gone to the ice rink the night before, and spent the morning in the Park the day he disappeared.
There seems to be no end of possibilities about what actually happened to Kevin. It’s not fully clear from what the Police said as to whether they believed the person who they believe groomed him had killed him, or whether it was a chance encounter with someone else. What is certain though is that they would either have needed a car to dispose of his body, disposed of it on their own property, or in a more remote area if they had met Kevin there. If Kevin did enter Ashburton Park, as seems very possible, then he could have been attacked by any number of people. If he had been to see the person who was grooming him, why was he then on the street again on Shirley Road 90 minutes later? Did this person follow him? One thing does seem probable: that as with many teenagers, there were things happening in Kevin’s life that his family and immediate friends were not aware of.
Mrs Marple
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I suspect he came into contact with someone through his work at the Co Op. I didn't realise he worked there. Makes sense, we all had part time jobs when we were in our teens.