What’s everyone’s final thoughts/general consensus on today’s developments then? I still really don’t know what to think
I think in all probability it was NM. TVP will be aware how nicely packaged this all looks and the scrutiny they’ll be under. I don’t think they’ll leave a stone unturned.
There are lots of questions still, but we have to trust the police have the information we are not party too. Some questions may never get answered.
My main musings -
I took from the statement that the police gave ti mean NM was employed directly with the owners, whereas media reported he was employed via a company - be interested in which is correct. Would help with the keys question which pops up a lot.
Neighbors blasting TVP, with hindsight their 20/20 vision they now realise it was strange that house sitting unoccupied. But at the time of the investigation it was considered normal enough for no one to mention, not on the door to door enquiries, not on later pleas from the public for the publics help. I’m in no way blaming the neighbours/public just highlighting how normal it all felt. Could be the owner told everyone she was having work done so the presence of the handy man was not unexpected.
Essentially 2 investigations have collided, NM SO history and subsequent suicide and Leah’s murder. There were probably questions left unanswered from NM suicide which maybe now make sense.
It’s important I think with the pandemic to take peoples timelines with a pinch of salt. Particularly with the owners return and potentially them not realising what was in the loft.
Police and other professionals are humans, they are shaped by their experiences professionally and personally - yes they have procedures and policies to follow which will hopefully deduce the same results but it won’t always work this way. If a different police officer knocked on a different neighbours door there might have been a different outcome. I say this has someone who felt they should have done more in terms of chasing the unoccupied house, particularly as it fell in the radius that they felt held the most answers to Leah’s missing person enquiry. I should imagine there were lots of people who didn’t answer after multiple attempts.
I’m glad Leah is now found, she can rest now. The family can start their very long process of coming to terms of losing 2 of their children, a brother, a sister. They seem such a loving family and I hope they are being fully supported
Looking at Google street view over the years in question shows that the number 2 property stood out like a sore thumb because it was so overgrown - that should have been enough to ask who owned it, when it was last occupied and who has a key? Surely if the neighbours said at that time it’s been empty for a while and a known sex offender (Johnston) lived there previously, that would warrant a more thorough search? They were looking in the lake behind it with divers so why not wonder about that particular house? If I was a neighbour I would have wanted the police to check it knowing it has been unoccupied but also it’s link to someone in prison for a sex crime.
but still no neighbour reported it, it was first bought to TVP attention Monday, this week.
