Found Deceased UK - Leah Croucher - Emerson Valley - Milton Keynes - #6

[Outside the box]

What’s everyone’s final thoughts/general consensus on today’s developments then? I still really don’t know what to think

I believe it was NW and he had either noticed LC before the date and planned this for a number of weeks, maybe making himself be seen briefly whilst she walked by, maybe even a wave and a smile, possibility of a small chat all enabling him to psychologically take him out of stranger territory and then used an excuse on that morning to lure her in or at least closer and then struck, either that or he snatched her as she passed but I still believe he would of been watching, everything around him, as much as LC herself.. after that point I would rather not think about it but I would be interested to know where he committed suicide..

 

[tedtink]

Do you have a date in 2009 NM was jailed? It's just Claudia Lawrence went missing early morning on the way to work and her father reported her missing on 20 March 2009.

Just found this. Apologies if already posted.

Datchet man jailed for rape​

19th June 2009

A MAN from Datchet has been jailed for four years and ten months after pleading guilty to rape.
Neil Maxwell, 39, of Horton Road, appeared at Reading Crown Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty and was sentenced at the same hearing.

Datchet man jailed for rape

A MAN from Datchet has been jailed for four years and ten months after pleading guilty to rape.

www.sloughobserver.co.uk

 

[Kinners_D]

I believe it was NW and he had either noticed LC before the date and planned this for a number of weeks, maybe making himself be seen briefly whilst she walked by, maybe even a wave and a smile, possibility of a small chat all enabling him to psychologically take him out of stranger territory and then used an excuse on that morning to lure her in or at least closer and then struck, either that or he snatched her as she passed but I still believe he would of been watching, everything around him, as much as LC herself.. after that point I would rather not think about it but I would be interested to know where he committed suicide..

I posted a version of this theory earlier today, it seems to be the most plausible scenario for what happened. I don't think he snatched her, by all accounts she was a bit naïve so would have been easily lured over after having made himself a regular occurrence on her morning commute that seemed totally normal and unthreatening.

 

[Outside the box]

I posted a version of this theory earlier today, it seems to be the most plausible scenario for what happened. I don't think he snatched her, by all accounts she was a bit naïve so would have been easily lured over after having made himself a regular occurrence on her morning commute that seemed totally normal and unthreatening.

I think we see things pretty similar sometimes from what I noticed, you have the capability to see things from the criminal point of view which some are simply not able to do.. I won't ask why... lol

 

[Kinners_D]

I think we see things pretty similar sometimes from what I noticed, you have the capability to see things from the criminal point of view which some are simply not able to do.. I won't ask why... lol

Mostly mine is because of the work I do, I am naturally sceptical but I work in digital forensics (Not in LE - principles are the same though) and have seen people do some weird things that make no sense to normal people, you just end up getting used to seeing things in a certain way.

 

[Outside the box]

Mostly mine is because of the work I do, I am naturally sceptical but I work in digital forensics (Not in LE - principles are the same though) and have seen people do some weird things that make no sense to normal people, you just end up getting used to seeing things in a certain way.

Honestly mine was a bad childhood and a mispent youth/young adult, mixing with criminals and being involved, nothing serious myself but you learn to think by necessity a different way, running every possible scenario through your head and every possible way to handle them but one thing I noticed partly due to being so analytical is that patterns do occur and people tend to stick to a certain way that works best or has previously gave them results and I notice certain crimes attract certain characters generally.. I'm a good boy now..lol

 

[miss-scarlett23]

So now police potentially have a car reg I was interested as MK is covered in ANPR. It seems it’s only stored for a year unfortunately

https://www.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rs/road-safety/automatic-number-plate-recognition-anpr/

Edited to add potentially

This is interesting. I've lived in MK for 46 years and I wasn't aware it was covered in ANRP cameras. I know some of the smaller villages around MK have them, but only thought there were traffic cameras around MK itself.

 

[Sayrah]

I get that the police can't search every house. I wouldn't expect that. But I wish after his suicide they had investigated his whereabouts while on the run and located this address. It wouldn't have saved Leah, but her family would have had answers years ago and maybe her brother would still be here. Feels like he died and they just closed the book.

On a separate note the list of appalling offences and pathetic sentences makes me so angry. This was clearly a serial sex offender who was being slapped on the wrist for almost two decades. He should not have been out on the street. Our justice system is not fit for purpose.

I want to know more about these 18 supposed attempts to arrest him. Why was the appeal only released in April? That's 6 months on from the sexual assault. So many questions. I really hope TVP refer themselves to the IOPC on this one. The least her family deserve is some clarification on what happened during the investigations and see if there is any way TVP can make sure nothing like this can happen again.

I am so sad for Leah and her family. Her last moments must have been horrific beyond words. She was just a 19-year old girl trying to go to work. I am sorry our society and justice system failed you, Leah.

 

[miss-scarlett23]

They really can't go kicking in doors to search houses without good reason, if they had searched every other house in the area a point might need to be made but although I'm sure they did house to house and maybe a quick nosey in gardens I would say no houses were searched properly and unfortunately there was no real evidence to point to the scenario for them to have a reason to do so, Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Correct. In order to search the houses a search warrant would need to be obtained to do so. The police have to have a valid reason or evidence to get a search warrant.
When the police make door to door enquires, it's to gain intelligence as to whether someone may have seen Leah in the area or noticed an incident that may have seemed odd or unusual, that they may have dismissed at the time.

 

[Outside the box]

I get that the police can't search every house. I wouldn't expect that. But I wish after his suicide they had investigated his whereabouts while on the run and located this address. It wouldn't have saved Leah, but her family would have had answers years ago and maybe her brother would still be here. Feels like he died and they just closed the book.

On a separate note the list of appalling offences and pathetic sentences makes me so angry. This was clearly a serial sex offender who was being slapped on the wrist for almost two decades. He should not have been out on the street. Our justice system is not fit for purpose.

I want to know more about these 18 supposed attempts to arrest him. Why was the appeal only released in April? That's 6 months on from the sexual assault. So many questions. I really hope TVP refer themselves to the IOPC on this one. The least her family deserve is some clarification on what happened during the investigations and see if there is any way TVP can make sure nothing like this can happen again.

I am so sad for Leah and her family. Her last moments must have been horrific beyond words. She was just a 19-year old girl trying to go to work. I am sorry our society and justice system failed you, Leah.

After his death it would likely be difficult to link him to the house, they linked him to the house from the house but the reverse might not have been possible, and as to the 18 attempted arrest, they are referring to 18 addresses to attempt to make an arrest throughout the uk, not just TVP.. They tried the addresses they had from the information they had and also sent out notification to other forces who then tried the addresses they had, sometimes without a bit of luck it can be impossible to track someone who doesn't want to be found, regarding the sentences this excuse of a man received previously I think it's disgusting and as for the judge who failed to jail him in 2018 I have no words..

 

[miss-scarlett23]

Regarding the confusion over who had keys to the property, this article does state that:
Maxwell was a handyman at the property where officers on October 10, 2022, found human remains.

He had worked at the home from November 2018 while the owners were overseas.

Maxwell was the only one to have keys to the property at the time.

Who was Neil Maxwell? Leah Croucher murder suspect

 

[Sayrah]

After his death it would likely be difficult to link him to the house, they linked him to the house from the house but the reverse might not have been possible, and as to the 18 attempted arrest, they are referring to 18 addresses to attempt to make an arrest throughout the uk, not just TVP.. They tried the addresses they had from the information they had and also sent out notification to other forces who then tried the addresses they had, sometimes without a bit of luck it can be impossible to track someone who doesn't want to be found, regarding the sentences this excuse of a man received previously I think it's disgusting and as for the judge who failed to jail him in 2018 I have no words..

You're probably right. For all I know they did try to track down his former properties/workplaces, and as you and the police said he used aliases and did not want to be found which made everything all the more difficult for them. It's just so frustrating she has been there for so long.

Thanks for the clarification around the arrests too.

Not a single sentence he received was appropriate. 12 months for rape? Then four and a bit years for another rape? It seems like he got a bit of time and went straight back to attacking young women. And no doubt he committed way more offences than he was prosecuted for.

 

[miss-scarlett23]

Honestly mine was a bad childhood and a mispent youth/young adult, mixing with criminals and being involved, nothing serious myself but you learn to think by necessity a different way, running every possible scenario through your head and every possible way to handle them but one thing I noticed partly due to being so analytical is that patterns do occur and people tend to stick to a certain way that works best or has previously gave them results and I notice certain crimes attract certain characters generally.. I'm a good boy now..lol

Absolutely. From a psychological point of view, people like NM are creatures of habit. Their method tends to remain the same in order to achieve the desired result.

 

[pedronz06]

After his death it would likely be difficult to link him to the house, they linked him to the house from the house but the reverse might not have been possible, and as to the 18 attempted arrest, they are referring to 18 addresses to attempt to make an arrest throughout the uk, not just TVP.. They tried the addresses they had from the information they had and also sent out notification to other forces who then tried the addresses they had, sometimes without a bit of luck it can be impossible to track someone who doesn't want to be found, regarding the sentences this excuse of a man received previously I think it's disgusting and as for the judge who failed to jail him in 2018 I have no words..

In my opinion the missing link is the owners of the property. When they arrived back, didn't they want their keys back, or did he leave them in the house already, didn't they need to pay him in cash. if he hadn't returned them and they couldn't locate him, wouldn't they have enquired about him with the police or whoever connected him with them in the first place to try and locate him. If they had learned of his suicide and he was wanted and then learned of his convictions, (Searching his name on the internet could have revealed this too) this may have helped connect the dots sooner. I'm sure they knew about the missing girl already and time/ location of her last known sightings.

 

[miss-scarlett23]

I get that the police can't search every house. I wouldn't expect that. But I wish after his suicide they had investigated his whereabouts while on the run and located this address. It wouldn't have saved Leah, but her family would have had answers years ago and maybe her brother would still be here. Feels like he died and they just closed the book.

On a separate note the list of appalling offences and pathetic sentences makes me so angry. This was clearly a serial sex offender who was being slapped on the wrist for almost two decades. He should not have been out on the street. Our justice system is not fit for purpose.

I want to know more about these 18 supposed attempts to arrest him. Why was the appeal only released in April? That's 6 months on from the sexual assault. So many questions. I really hope TVP refer themselves to the IOPC on this one. The least her family deserve is some clarification on what happened during the investigations and see if there is any way TVP can make sure nothing like this can happen again.

I am so sad for Leah and her family. Her last moments must have been horrific beyond words. She was just a 19-year old girl trying to go to work. I am sorry our society and justice system failed you, Leah.

Why would TVP refer themselves to the IOPC?

NM was never on their radar regarding Leah's case. NM was a sexual predator whose crimes were sexual assaults against women. As far as I'm aware, none of his victims had been abducted or gone missing.
Leah was a missing person, there would have been no reason for the police to connect NM to her disappearance.

The judicial system on the other hand, should have realized this individual was a repeat offender, a danger to young females and dealt with him accordingly, instead of giving him a slap on the wrist!

 

[Outside the box]

In my opinion the missing link is the owners of the property. When they arrived back, didn't they want their keys back, or did he leave them in the house already.. if he hadn't returned them and they couldn't locate him, wouldn't they have enquired about him with the police or whoever connected him with them in the first place to try and locate him. If they had learned of his suicide and he was wanted and then learned of his convictions, (Searching his name on the internet could have revealed this too) this may have helped connect the dots sooner. I'm sure they knew about the missing girl already and time/ location of her last known sightings.

I believe the owners were probably unaware of a missing girl, they probably didn't pay much attention to uk news and whilst over on holiday you are unlikely to be to interested, I believe this would of been a casual arrangement possibly made over the internet with keys picked up and left in a certain location, I doubt other than a name and bank details the owners knew him or even cared, he was i would imagine asked to go in and make good what needed repairing and give the house a deep clean, so was possibly only expected to be there for a short period and would of been expected to have left the keys wherever when finished but if the suspect knew that the family were not coming over until the summer then he would of been happy to continue to hide out there, after the crime I imagine he had plans on moving the body but started to realise the difficulties involved, as time passed those difficulties increased, feb turns to March and march to april all of a sudden the owners of the property will soon be here and his crime will be discovered or so he would think, he then decided he couldn't face prison and hiding was over so he took his own life.. I believe it's as simple as that or somewhere close..

 

[Miss_French]

Right this doesn’t sit with me. Some neighbours are giving their stories to the press saying empty house never searched blah blah, why then didn’t they tell the door knockers the house was unoccupied as for sure if had the same door knock I’d have pointed out all the houses which were normally empty at the time

But where are you more likely to search; a house that was occupied when Leah disappeared, or an empty one where neighbours say they've never seen anyone there for years and maybe no signs of forced entry or anything untoward if you can look through glass.

 

[Macarey1973]

Perhaps someone who had to move out their own home and needed to move the evidence? Though surely the perp would just dispose of the bag etc if that was the case? JMO

A neighbour told reporters at the scene that she/her husband had mowed the grass to stop the house looking empty - the street view images over those years show it to be very overgrown at the front, you can’t see the house/through the windows apart from a small ground floor one which appears to have cleaning products on the ledge. There is also som graffiti on the side of the garage wall in one image - locals would have known a sex offender (Johnston) has lived there, as would the letting agents. I really do wonder if the two sex offenders knew each other and/or knew that house was empty - why did Leah’s phone go off the night before in that same area - who was she meeting there? I think she had met Maxwell before and went into that house without a struggle or was taken there after she had been killed.

 

[Rusty Braincells]

It is true to guy said to the police look its postmarked today. I could not see the document myself, wish I had I would have tried to take a photo but certainly the WPC was interested and went inside the tent to discuss with a colleague and copy it. I would have thought it came from a dept collecting agency who deals with whichever car park he was in when he recieved the ticket. The only aspect of interest for me was it lets the police know a particular vehicle he was driving at that time. So I was not able to see the documents but he told me what it was about and i stood next to him as he then showed it to the police and explained he recieved it today and said your can see its date stamped today.
If I can find out where he lives I will see if he will allow me to photo the documents. By the way I live in Furzton and our postman is not on strike and seems to be delivering every day. Mainly mail shots we do not want!

Just to speculate further on this, debt collection agencies do not just use DVLA data to track down people who haven’t paid parking fines. They use Companies House, other public information and straightforward internet searches. The original fine usually goes to the person who is on the DVLA website as the registered keeper. However, a lot of agencies will expand the search if the fine remains unpaid.

I’ve never owned or hired a car in my life, but I’ve had a debt collection agency come after me because I have a similar name to someone with an outstanding parking fine and I was found another way. Many of these letters sent out are speculative. Some people who don’t owe the money will pay them because they’re frightened or won’t be able to deal with a CCJ against their name.

To cut a long story short, after I assured the agency in question I would contact the Financial Ombudsman if they continued, the debt collectors finally accepted they had “traced” the wrong person.

Pure speculation: I don’t think it is beyond the realms of possibility that a particular type of debt collection agency has heard through news coverage of this very case that Neil Maxwell was in the last few years on that street and has redirected letters there anyway just in case anyone getting them pays them. They can also assure the person on whose behalf they’re chasing the debt that they have done everything they can and maybe deserve some of their fee anyway. It wouldn’t surprise me, having had the unpleasant experience of direct dealings… Genuinely, NM being reported to be dead wouldn’t deter some agencies sending a letter anyway.

 

[Macarey1973]

I took a look at historic satellite pics of 2 Loxbeare Drive today, some interesting food for thought.

Picture taken on 7 May 2018 shows the grass in the garden at *roughly* the same state as in March 2020, suggesting somebody was either resident or present in the property between those two dates (yes it's a fairly long timespan).

BUT the picture taken 9 June 2021 shows a very overgrown garden, allowing us to perhaps conclude that at some point between March 2020 and June 2021 the property was empty.

Perhaps it's the case - and this is purely IMO and speculation - that someone with awareness and/or access to 2 Loxbeare could have moved LC's remains to the property during that window? Noticed that it was abandoned, overgrown, and took the opportunity?