Found Deceased UK - Leah Croucher - Emerson Valley - Milton Keynes - #7

[Miss_French]

The powers that be could actually triangulate an area and from the time the girl was seen they could check which phones were active on the networks to try and locate that person, it's a lot of work and possibility off 100's of number but it is achievable I believe, I just don't think it was her, I believe she never made it past the house unfortunately, just my opinion..

The police can only check the mast contact of phones belonging to victims, suspects and witnesses. They aren't allowed to investigate every phone that could be in a certain area, those that they do have to be a authorised by a higher authority and only certain officers are permitted to submit requests. It's to stop abuse of the system.

 

[Outside the box]

Thanks. That sounds like a lot of contact and checks involved between you and the owner so that I can understand. However do you think this was the case here with NM and the owner! Why would be give his correct name when he was wanted by police ?

I believe he would be comfortable enough to give his name to someone in another country, although do we know he gave the exact name?

 

[mumkinton]

personally I think LC was walking past 2 Loxbeare on her way to work as usual and NM somehow managed to lure her into the house on false pretences (Ted Bundy used to put his arm in a sling and ask for help). The timing of her phone being switched off matches that scenario making TVP lack of investigation even more incredulous. I wonder if NM had in mind his suicide at that time, as his efforts to hide LC and her belongings was half hearted and it would be obvious it was him due to the fact only he had the keys to the property.

 

[Miss_French]

I just want to know on what evidence the police named him as a suspect? Other than the owner saying be had keys to the property? Even then being at the property doesn't prove he is a murderer. I also can't believe that no one else has entered the property either then or since. For example the people who entered the property in Monday and found items of concern? Who have them keys? If we are to believe Leahs remains and belongings have been at the house since February 2019 ,then the owners stayed there in July 2019 get noticed nothing of concern yet over 3 years later people enter the house and immediately contact police because of concerns. That makes no sense either IMO

Despite the initial reports, I think it's still to be confirmed that the owners were in the the UK in 2019.

 

[Outside the box]

The police can only check the mast contact of phones belonging to victims, suspects and witnesses. They aren't allowed to investigate every phone that could be in a certain area, thosecthat they do have to be a authorised by a higher authority and only certain officers are permitted to submit requests. It's to stop abuse of the system.

I appreciate that and that's why I said the powers that be and I believe if those powers were more sure than not, that it was LC, then that was a route they might of taken as the likelihood of that being the last person she spoke to would of been incredibly high.

 

[SpursGyal]

We do not know when NM was given the work at the house, we just know it was November, at the point he gave his details to the owner, he may not have been wanted by police. It's also unlikely while being in another country, the owner was never aware he was wanted.

I follow TVP, and newspapers media in and around MK from well before Leah went missing and i never saw it.

 

[tedtink]

Thought it might be helpful to add the timeline again.

Thursday February 14, Valentine's Day
8am. Leah, 19, sets off for work as normal. She has an admin job with finance company DFC in Davy Avenue, Knowlhill and walks the two mile journey to and from work every day, often going via Furzton Lake.

5.45pm. Leah walks home from work. Strangely, the location settings on her Samsung phone were switched off in the Furzton Lake area. Nobody knows why. It could be that she was downloading another app that disabled them. But the mobile phone company has confirmed Leah had never turned off her location settings before.

6pm. Leah arrives home from work. She changes into tracksuit bottoms and a long-sleeved top with the logo 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' (a quote from her favourite Harry Potter books) and leaves the house on foot. She tells her mum she is going to visit a friend.
7.15pm. Leah arrives home again. She doesn't fancy the meal her mum was cooking so she ordered herself a takeaway. Her mum asks if her friend is okay and Leah replies with a yes.


Her behaviour that night was totally normal, say her parents.
Later it was discovered that Leah has not visited the friend. Where did she go for that 75 minutes on Valentine's night? Did she meet anybody?

Friday February 15

8am. Leah gets up and leaves for work. Her parents have already left for their work. She sets off on her normal route, wearing a black coat, skinny black jeans, black Converse high top shoes and carrying a small black rucksack. Underneath her coat she wears a distinctive grey hoodie, which has the logo of her dad's Stewartby Taekwondo club.

8.13am. CCTV footage shows her walking along Buzzacott Lane in Furzton . That was the last confirmed sighting of Leah.
Advertisement

8.34am. Leah's mobile phone is switched off.

9am. Leah fails to arrive at work

9.30am – 11.15am. Three different witnesses report seeing a girl matching Leah's description walking by Furzton Lake. She was looking “visibly upset” and crying while talking on the phone. She was also text with two thumbs. Police have never been able to say definitely that this was Leah. However, no other female has ever come forward to say it was them.


6pm Leah fails to return home. She is reported missing

Missing from Milton Keynes: Leah Croucher the timeline, everything we know so far

As a major search continues in Milton Keynes in relation to missing Leah Croucher the Citizen retraces every important detail in a dedicated timeline of events since she vanished eight months ago.

www.miltonkeynes.co.uk

 

[SpursGyal]

We do not know when NM was given the work at the house, we just know it was November, at the point he gave his details to the owner, he may not have been wanted by police. It's also unlikely while being in another country, the owner was never aware he was wanted.

I follow TVP, and newspapers media in and around MK from well before Leah went missing and i never saw it.

Just adding, he had keys from 'November 2019' <modnote - 2018>- The wanted appeal wasn't released until April 2019, after Leah went missing. There is no reason the owner would have known he was a wanted man, or for him to give a false name.

“We also published a public wanted appeal to find Maxwell on 4 April 2019, but Maxwell was found dead on 20 April 2019 having taken his own life.''

Leah Croucher murder suspect was reported to Bedfordshire Police for sexual assault - 3 months before she went missing

The sexual assault case had immediately been passed to Thames Valley Police

www.bedfordtoday.co.uk

 

[LammyTheRobot]

The powers that be could actually triangulate an area and from the time the girl was seen they could check which phones were active on the networks to try and locate that person, it's a lot of work and possibility off 100's of number but it is achievable I believe, I just don't think it was her, I believe she never made it past the house unfortunately, just my opinion..

This sort of approach should be more common in investigations. I know it's relatively complex now, but it needn't be. For certain categories of crimes the police should routinely have a list of mobile identifiers (GSM IDs I guess) connected to the immediately local masts. I know it's a bit big brother but actually - especially outside of massive cities like London - if you can say with some certainty was in Places A, B and C when a cluster of crimes happened in the same places, there's no reason not to at least want to rule them out.

 

[miss-scarlett23]

Ladders are mostly used for outside maintenance, such as gutter clearing. There might have been a ladder kept in the garage, NM wouldn't necessarily have needed to bring one.

Most lofts are accessible with a step-ladder and I would think a handy man would carry one for general maintenance, such as painting ceilings etc

 

[pedronz06]

I personally don't believe it was LC and her phone could of just as easily been in number 2 loxbeare when it was last pinged, black or dark clothing is very common, she was only 5ft 2" and this could easily have been a teenage girl who often wear black trousers/skirt and have a black coat and back pack, also high school girls are known for emotional outbursts, it would be interesting to know the colour of school uniform in the area.
The powers that be could actually triangulate an area and from the time the girl was seen they could check which phones were active on the networks to try and locate that person, it's a lot of work and possibility off 100's of number but it is achievable I believe, I just don't think it was her, I believe she never made it past the house unfortunately, just my opinion..

Well this is the big question, what was the accuracy of that final ping? I'm not sure how much cell orientated pinging goes on automatically and how many towers are involved in this, if it's one tower it's any part of a circles line she could be on, if it's two then it's two points she could be on and if it's three towers or more she could only be at one point, this is very accurate, draw three circles yourself all over lapping to see. Another way is via WiFi scanning, and maybe these days Bluetooth too. Or by location services/ timeline of the device which she had disabled previous night, this has the added accuracy of the phones gps receivers. In my opinion, if the ping involved three towers or possibly even two they would have been able to differentiate whether she was at the lake or on loxbeare drive at 8.34am. if no ping was done then it's by mast and this is wise area and therefore useless.

You also have to remember at furzton she is positioned between the fair and NM house so he/ or his friends could have been walking between the two or sat in vehicles first thing in the morning in the car park to keep warm out of site of the camera.

With the phone being broken, thrown or her simply not wanting to turn it on this would explain why she never called a taxi and opted for a bus.

 

[infinit]

This sort of approach should be more common in investigations. I know it's relatively complex now, but it needn't be. For certain categories of crimes the police should routinely have a list of mobile identifiers (GSM IDs I guess) connected to the immediately local masts. I know it's a bit big brother but actually - especially outside of massive cities like London - if you can say with some certainty was in Places A, B and C when a cluster of crimes happened in the same places, there's no reason not to at least want to rule them out.

NAL but I believe it's a civil liberty issue, you need a warrant in order to request that data, and you need some evidence in order to get the warrant and it has to be limited in scope. Saying that, GCHQ collect it all anyway and process the data, so it does seem a bit hypocritical.

 

[LammyTheRobot]

NAL but I believe it's a civil liberty issue, you need a warrant in order to request that data, and you need some evidence in order to get the warrant and it has to be limited in scope. Saying that, GCHQ collect it all anyway and process the data, so it does seem a bit hypocritical.

Exactly, this approach is used by intelligence services already, and possibly the NCA when they need to. I'm not one of those people who say "if you've got nothing to hide you don't need to worry about surveillance," however I would have no issue with this sort of thing being routine.

To illustrate the point more clearly: If police were looking at CCTV instead of mast data, and they saw the same individual nearby three different crimes on CCTV of those separate crimes, they'd probably want to speak to that person.

 

[miss-scarlett23]

I don't doubt your word but still find it strange anyone would do that? I am guessing they may have been people with property Portfolios ? How were you paid ? Did you provide references? Bank details ,address etc? Was your work checked by anyone on completion?

Is it possible he'd carried out work for the owners previously? Possibly a family member or friend recommended him. Or maybe the property owner returned to the UK in Oct/Nov 2018, discovered some maintenance work needed to be done and hired him to do it, before returning abroad.

 

[LammyTheRobot]

The Mirror have got hold of a different picture of NM today (attached and available in the link: Suspect in Leah Croucher's murder phoned pal saying 'I can't go back to prison').

 

[Miss_French]

I appreciate that and that's why I said the powers that be and I believe if those powers were more sure than not, that it was LC, then that was a route they might of taken as the likelihood of that being the last person she spoke to would of been incredibly high.

You said "they could check which phones were active on the networks to try and locate that person, it's a lot of work and possibility off 100's of number". You used 'phones' plural, so I thought you meant they were checking every number on the mast.

 

[Outside the box]

Well this is the big question, what was the accuracy of that final ping? I'm not sure how much cell orientated pinging goes on automatically and how many towers are involved in this, if it's one tower it's any part of a circles line she could be on, if it's two then it's two points she could be on and if it's three towers or more she could only be at one point, this is very accurate, draw three circles yourself all over lapping to see. Another way is via WiFi scanning, and maybe these days Bluetooth too. Or by location services/ timeline of the device which she had disabled previous night, this has the added accuracy of the phones gps receivers. In my opinion, if the ping involved three towers or possibly even two they would have been able to differentiate whether she was at the lake or on loxbeare drive at 8.34am.

With the phone being broken, thrown or her simply not wanting to turn it on this would explain why she never called a taxi and opted for a bus.

If they had pinpointed it I believe they would of said, the fact they say "in the area of" makes me believe they didn't or couldn't..

 

[Outside the box]

You said "they could check which phones were active on the networks to try and locate that person, it's a lot of work and possibility off 100's of number". You used 'phones' plural, so I thought you meant they were checking every number on the mast.

That's what I mean, check which phones were active in that area, all of them and eliminate them one by one.

 

[Jaesu]

We do not know when NM was given the work at the house, we just know it was November, at the point he gave his details to the owner, he may not have been wanted by police. It's also unlikely while being in another country, the owner was never aware he was wanted.

I follow TVP, and newspapers media in and around MK from well before Leah went missing and i never saw it.

I recall a Bedfordshire paper running the story of the Newport Pagnell assault. I believe Beds Police handled the case initially before handing over to TVP.

 

[Miss_French]

Thought it might be helpful to add the timeline again.

Thursday February 14, Valentine's Day
8am. Leah, 19, sets off for work as normal. She has an admin job with finance company DFC in Davy Avenue, Knowlhill and walks the two mile journey to and from work every day, often going via Furzton Lake.

5.45pm. Leah walks home from work. Strangely, the location settings on her Samsung phone were switched off in the Furzton Lake area. Nobody knows why. It could be that she was downloading another app that disabled them. But the mobile phone company has confirmed Leah had never turned off her location settings before.

6pm. Leah arrives home from work. She changes into tracksuit bottoms and a long-sleeved top with the logo 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' (a quote from her favourite Harry Potter books) and leaves the house on foot. She tells her mum she is going to visit a friend.
7.15pm. Leah arrives home again. She doesn't fancy the meal her mum was cooking so she ordered herself a takeaway. Her mum asks if her friend is okay and Leah replies with a yes.


Her behaviour that night was totally normal, say her parents.
Later it was discovered that Leah has not visited the friend. Where did she go for that 75 minutes on Valentine's night? Did she meet anybody?

Friday February 15

8am. Leah gets up and leaves for work. Her parents have already left for their work. She sets off on her normal route, wearing a black coat, skinny black jeans, black Converse high top shoes and carrying a small black rucksack. Underneath her coat she wears a distinctive grey hoodie, which has the logo of her dad's Stewartby Taekwondo club.

8.13am. CCTV footage shows her walking along Buzzacott Lane in Furzton . That was the last confirmed sighting of Leah.
Advertisement

8.34am. Leah's mobile phone is switched off.

9am. Leah fails to arrive at work

9.30am – 11.15am. Three different witnesses report seeing a girl matching Leah's description walking by Furzton Lake. She was looking “visibly upset” and crying while talking on the phone. She was also text with two thumbs. Police have never been able to say definitely that this was Leah. However, no other female has ever come forward to say it was them.


6pm Leah fails to return home. She is reported missing

Missing from Milton Keynes: Leah Croucher the timeline, everything we know so far

As a major search continues in Milton Keynes in relation to missing Leah Croucher the Citizen retraces every important detail in a dedicated timeline of events since she vanished eight months ago.

www.miltonkeynes.co.uk

Thought it was 8.16am at Buzzacott Lane?

Suggest adding eyewitness reported seeing a girl resembling Leah opposite Tellytubby Hill at 8.20am.

'Was I the last person to see Leah Croucher?' asks Milton Keynes mum as another witness speaks out

She says Leah looked 'perfectly normal' and nodded a greeting at her minutes before she vanished

www.miltonkeynes.co.uk