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

[LINEOFDUTY]

BBM

I found this report if it helps

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-64386555

Many thanks as you can see they had not found anyone who had seen Maxwell. The explanation being he changed his appearance.

 

[HollyHunter9]

I Agree Holly AND there was a TVP notice that appealed to anyone who had ever seen Maxwell in MK let alone near the property. I believe I read they found no evidence forensically linking him to the property. If anyone remembers these comments please assist as I can’t find the article.
Sadly TVP have not acknowledged the investigative errors. I live nearby and when they visited us I pointed out at least five empty properties owned by persons abroad.
I know of no entries to these empty properties and of course the lead detective was still on tv saying he personally felt she had gone of her own accord… yeh like taking just her work clothes and no cash or passport. It was obvious to us, but seemingly not to the investigation team.
Whilst it may not have helped our dear Leah the delays caused another tragedy. A big shame the coroner did not tease these points out to minimise a repeat.
We all feel devastated for her wrecked family I wish they could feel the love we feel for them

Yes i do remember those comments LOD. They were struggling to place him at the property, so how are they now so sure it was him? I'm disappointed for leahs family that the inquest still didn't really answer anything. The empty houses should have been a priority to search, but the police always thought she was a run away, I believe. My heart really goes out to her family for what they've been through.

 

[LINEOFDUTY]

Yes i do remember those comments LOD. They were struggling to place him at the property, so how are they now so sure it was him? I'm disappointed for leahs family that the inquest still didn't really answer anything. The empty houses should have been a priority to search, but the police always thought she was a run away, I believe. My heart really goes out to her family for what they've been through.

Has anyone considered making a freedom of information request as it seems, and I repeat seems, it’s been a whitewash . The only apologies the Coroner mentioned were about the probation service. So many other errors in the initial investigations and jumping right out are failures to search empty houses on the route and saying they believed she had left home of her own accord when she had not taken any important documents, clothes or money.
Would the investigation process and evidence the police have be released under the act. Maybe the family want an end to public scrutiny but I fear there will eventually be a future TV programme reviewing the evidence which may further extend their pain?
Just taking the official written and verbal statements alone shows other serious mistakes were made. My only concern is have lessons been learnt to limit any repeats?
Now if the family and their QC have had full disclosure and are now satisfied with the subsequent actions taken by authorities then that’s the end of the matter for me. But currently the inconsistencies leave a bitter taste for those of us that tried so hard to point out the apparent mistakes AT THE TIME they were being made. Yes inaccurate incorrect or insensitive comments were made but in the main many of the key points made could have helped finding Leah earlier and capture whoever abducted her.
I hope the authorities were reviewing our comments and trying to consider issues raised that seemed worth consideration.

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1824034786249240836

 

[Officer Dibble]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1824034786249240836

I can't understand how they don't do this in the first place. JMO

 

[Skigh]

Parents of Leah Croucher tell of their 'torture' at police blunders

Leah was found dead in the loft of a house on October 10, 2022 - almost four years after her disappearance on February 15, 2019, while walking to work in Milton Keynes

www.dailymail.co.uk

The parents of murdered Leah Croucher have spoken about their 'torture' after police blunders prolonged their agony whilst trying to find their missing daughter.

Leah was found dead in the loft of a house on October 10, 2022 - almost four years after her disappearance on February 15, 2019, while walking to work on Buzzacott Lane, Furzton, Milton Keynes.

During the search for the teenager, officers told parents John and Claire Croucher that they had found a human scalp, which later turned out to be horse’s mane, and mistook a severed foot for that of Leah.

 

[WiseOwl]

Parents of Leah Croucher tell of their 'torture' at police blunders

Leah was found dead in the loft of a house on October 10, 2022 - almost four years after her disappearance on February 15, 2019, while walking to work in Milton Keynes

www.dailymail.co.uk

Picking up on some of the points raised:

Speaking to The Mirror about the distressing handling of the case by the force, John said: 'It was torture, we understand the police were doing the best they could. But they were making mistakes, too. We were called out from work one day to say they had possibly found a human scalp. 'They said they had confirmed it was a human scalp and it was sent for DNA testing. It was possibly one of the longest weeks we had. Then it came back that it was ¬actually a horse's mane.'

Why on earth tell the family that it was a human scalp before they had it tested for DNA? Absolutely appalling.

The couple were also told that a random foot had been found by a dogwalker. Detectives said it was a size four and belonged to a female aged 16 to 25 who had died in January 2019. The foot was put forward for DNA testing, which took three weeks, and showed that it was not Leah's, a finding that mother Claire described as 'heartbreaking'.

Again, why not wait until DNA testing before telling the family?

The coroner concluded that Leah had died on the day she disappeared, February 15 2019, adding: 'I find that she was murdered by Neil Maxwell. I also find that there were a number of failings with regard to the monitoring of Neil Maxwell. An inexperienced probation officer was supervising him at the time, as a convicted sex offender, had little experience of such offenders. The risk that Neil Maxwell posed to the public generally was underestimated and unreported. There was also a failure of the process to monitor Neil Maxwell as regards attendance at appointments.'

Who was the person responsible for giving the 'inexperienced officer' the job in the first place? Who was responsible for monitoring this person?

The coroner added there was a failure in the risk assessment carried out and a failure to properly share information between the police and probation on a shared computer system.

But why was there a failure? The police said after they had announced Maxwell as the only suspect that they had been looking for him from November 2018, 3 months before Leah disappeared. They also said that they had tried to arrest him 19 times, and that they believed he had been in Scotland around that time too. So they were actively looking for him, even though it appears he was under their noses all the time, living and working in Milton Keynes.

Maxwell had spent years in prison for numerous different offences - including attempted rape - but was incorrectly labelled as 'medium risk' in a report submitted to magistrates who sentenced him to a community order in February 2018. Caroline Haughey KC told the inquest how Maxwell received a custodial sentence in 2001 and then a further custodial sentence in 2002. He was only released in 2009.

He also raped a woman in Berkshire in 2009, and was sentenced to 4 years and 10 months in prison - this length of sentence means he should have been placed on the sex offenders register for life but he was not. That is why he got a lenient sentence in 2018.

The name of Maxwell came up in May 2019 after a member of the public called up to provide information, but officers concluded there was no link between him and Leah, DSI Brown said.

Well why have they still not made public his suicide note?

Detective Superintendent Kevin Brown told the inquest the probe had involved searching 3,500 houses, carrying out 1,500 lines of inquiry, examining 1,200 documents, 1,600 messages and taking 500 statements.

That's all very well, but how many sex offenders in the area did they check at the time? When a 19 year-old female goes missing, it's the first thing they should of thought of - they did not.

Link to Maxwell's crime in 2009:

Leah Croucher: Who was murder suspect Neil Maxwell?

Prime suspect Maxwell, who died in 2019, was convicted of sex offences years before Leah's death.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Terryb808]

Good summary #Wiseowl, to add to this I understand an independent investigator looked at Leah’s disappearance an highlighted exactly where he thought she went missing.
It didn’t align with the general thoughts at the time, but proved to be correct.
How did they leave this property un-searched when they had visited all the others.
An apparently semi empty property should have rung alarm bells.